From a writer praised by Junot Díaz as 'the fire, in my opinion, and the light', a mesmerizing novel that follows one woman's rise from circus rider to courtesan to world-renowned star
Lilliet Berne is a sensation of the Paris Opera, a legendary soprano with every accolade except an original role. When one is finally offered to her, she realizes with alarm that the libretto is based on a hidden piece of her past.
Only four could have betrayed her: one is dead, one loves her still, one wants only to own her. And one, she hopes, never thinks of her at all.
As Lilliet mines her memories for clues, she recalls her life as an orphan who left the American frontier for Europe and was swept up into the glitzy, gritty world of Second Empire Paris. In order to survive, she transformed herself from circus rider to courtesan, from empress's maid to stage ingénue,all the while weaving a web of passion and intrigue. Will the truth secure Lillet's fate - or destroy her with the secrets it reveals?
Fifteen years in the writing, The Queen of the Night is a literary tour de force that is also ferociously readable. A blazing tale of lust, ambition, betrayal and revenge, it will captivate readers right up to its final electrifying denouement.
'Epic, gorgeous, haunting' Hanya Yanagihara, Man Booker shortlisted author of A Little Life
'Astonishing' Karen Russell, New York Times best-selling author of Swamplandia
'Luminous' J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times best-selling author of Maine
'Glittering' Wall Street Journal
'Epic' Vogue
'Lush and sweeping' Publishers Weekly
'Plotted like a fine embroidery' NPR
'Completely engrossing' Library Journal, STARRED
'Richly researched, ornately plotted' Kirkus, STARRED
'Dramatic, audacious and extravagant' Chicago Review of Books
ALEXANDER CHEE won a Whiting Award for his first novel, Edinburgh, and is a recipient of the NEA Fellowship in Fiction and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Ledig House, and Civitella Ranieri. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Tin House, Slate, and NPR, among others, and he is a Contributing Editor at The New Republic. He lives in New York City.
Recommended by The Observer . . .
'One doesn't so much read it, as one is bewitched by it. Epic, gorgeous, haunting' HANYA YANAGIHARA, author of A Little Life
When it begins, it begins as an opera should begin: in a palace, at a ball, in an encounter with a stranger, who you discover has your fate in his hands . . .
She is Lilliet Berne. And she is the soprano.
1882. One warm autumn evening in Paris, Lilliet is finally offered an original role, though it comes at a price. The part is based on her deepest secret.
Only four people could have betrayed her: one is dead, one loves her still, one wants only to own her. And one, she hopes, never thinks of her at all.
In taking this role Lilliet is forced to confront her darkest lies but will the truth save Lilliet - or destroy her?
'Brilliantly extravagant' VOGUE
'Terrific' NEW YORKER
