Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! I've tried getting into this book a few times, but the writing and I just don't click so unfortunately I have to DNF this title.

Lilliet Berne is born in the prairies of the United States. When disease killed off all her family, she gets on a train and starts traveling. She ends up in Paris where she joins a circus as a gymnast on a horse, singing to entertain. The crowds loved her. Soon, however, she ends up working as a prostitute to make ends meet. There she meets a patron who becomes besotted with her, the tenor. When he hears her sing he arranges for her to audition for the finest opera school but she is turned down.
Fleeing the tenor, she leaves again. She ends up with a former opera singer who runs a school in Austria but soon the tenor shows up again. Lilliet ends up working for the Empress as her wardrobe mistress and falls in love with a young composer. But their love is not to be and soon she is back in Paris. This time she is accepted at the opera school and soon she is the toast of the town.

But one achievement escapes her. The best divas have operas written exclusively for her. When she is offered a script, she realizes that the new opera is the story of her life so far. Who knows all her secrets? As she attempts to find out, she ricochets between the man who is obsessed with her and the one she is obsessed with. Will she find a happy life?

This novel gained great praise with honors like an NPR Best Book, an Indie Next Pick and a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. Readers may pick up suggestions of Charles Dickens with an intricate plot and tons of characters with full backstories and will learn about topics such as the opera, the brothels of Paris, the French revolution and the Franco-Prussian war. Throughout, Lillibet is an enterprising woman who does whatever it takes to make her way in a man's world. This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Full review to be posted soonish.

I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Chee is a master of prose. Chee takes on a different style with each release and they are never a disappointment. This is a novel of great prose and atmosphere.

For fans of classical music, historical fiction, complicated female characters and for the infallible Alexander Chee, this novel is an obligatory read

I thought this book was too long and the writing style was a bit choppy. Almost soap opera-y. Which, given, the subject matter, but be appropriate. I would try this author again, this was just not the best for me.

First of all, I struggled to finish this book. That's never a good statement to make, especially about a book of this size. I liked the main character, Lilliet, and the story seemed promising and twisted enough that I was entertained but near the end things just got to be too much and spiraled out if control. Characters were for the most part very surface level, which for me is a big no no.

Wonderful novel with terrific character and very strong sense of place - great historical.