"No man has ever had to justify achieving perfection."
*Note - When choosing this genre to annotate, I was under the assumption that 'New Adult' meant a newly published work (within the current year or the last 12 months), therefore this title reflects that assumption, rather than a plot that centers around character(s) in their late teens/early 20s.
Author: Daisy Goodwin
Title: Diva
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Publication Date: January 23, 2024
Number of Pages: 336
Geographical Setting: Greece, New York
Time Period: 1950's - 1960's
Series: N/A
Plot Summary:
This richly-detailed historical novel features real, larger-than-life personalities and the many complex interweavings of both their personal and social lives. Goodwin paints a vivid story, involving world-renowned opera singer, Maria Callas, and the incredibly wealthy shipping magnate, Aristotle (Ari) Onassis.
Maria, an extraordinarily talented and driven woman, came to be known as the world's greatest opera star in the 1950's, however did not have an easy road to travel in order to get there - being raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who had no qualms about exploiting her daughter's talent, Maria had to learn the hard way, at an early age, to protect herself from others who would try to do the same.
Later in life, when she meets Ari Onassis, they are undeniably drawn to each other and, heedless of their both being married, begin a passionate affair, where Maria finds herself wildly in love. Over the years, Ari engulfs her within a life of utter luxury - travel, clothes, jewelry, and society, including Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Richard Burton, Winston Churchill, and many other political figureheads and Hollywood stars. Unfortunately, Maria's life and future with Ari comes to a crashing halt when it is publicly announced that Ari will marry former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy.
Maria must confront her heartbreak, find her courage and drive once more, and in the face of overwhelming emotions, forge ahead as a strong, independent, and talented individual.
Subject Headings:
Callas, Maria, 1923-1977
Onassis, Aristotle Socrates, 1906-1975
Opera singer
Rich people
Man-woman relationships
Adultery
Appeals:
Frame / Setting
"[W]orldbuilding...is crucial in Historical Fiction...[it] require[s] accurate historical facts...readers discover a wealth of richly layered detail relating to the frame...as well as interesting, believable characters and fully rendered events" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 171).
"[T]he setting must be real and on earth...writers spend a great deal of time locating their novels in specific parameters of time and place, adding details of landscape, milieu, and locale" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 171).
Tone
"Second in importance to frame/setting is the tone of the story, the feeling the book engenders...[it] furthers the aims of Historical Fiction by helping enmesh readers in the milieu" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 172).
Atmospheric - Dramatic - Moving - Romantic
Story Line
"History is story. Readers turn to the past, in fiction and in fact, to understand the broad sweep of narrative that has formed the world as we know it...[it] explains and contextualizes events, linking them to the settings of the period and to particular characters and their motivations" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 172).
Characterization
"As much as history is story, individuals enact events, making characterization the flip side of the story coin...creating dimensional, realistic figures...characters in Historical Fiction are meant to be joined as they traipse through time, taking the reader along for the ride" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, pp. 172-173).
Authentic
Language / Style
"Language is particularly tricky...given historical shifts in usage over time...the various approaches authors take...can serve as an invitation or as a roadblock to readers" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 174).
"Many examples of Historical Fiction fall into what we consider Literary Historical Fiction, works in which lyrical language, crystalline prose, and deft construction are as important to readers as the settings in which the story takes place" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 174).
Well-researched - Descriptive - Lyrical - Richly detailed
Pacing
"Historical novels are usually longer books, and they are not generally referred to as fast-paced...The necessity of creating detailed backgrounds and establishing the various settings often makes these books slow-starting, although the pacing may pick up once the threads of the story are firmly in hand" (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019, p. 174).
3 Terms That Best Describe This Book: Emotional, Compelling, Complex
3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors:
An Unofficial Marriage: A Novel About Pauline Viardot and Ivan Turgenev by Joie Davidow
Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous events of
19th century Europe, An Unofficial Marriage dramatizes the
equally tumultuous real-life love affair of two great artists—the famous
Russian author, Ivan Turgenev, and the celebrated French opera singer, Pauline
Viardot.
From the moment he encounters her on the St. Petersburg stage, Ivan
falls completely for Pauline. Though Pauline returns his feelings, she is bound
by her singular passion for her art and her devotion to her gentle, older
husband, Louis. Nevertheless, Ivan pursues Pauline across countries and
continents—from Russia to France to Germany to Prussia—and in the decades that
follow their fateful meeting, the lives of Pauline, Ivan, and Louis remain
permanently intertwined as the lovers face jealousy, separation, the French
Revolution of 1848, the cholera epidemic of 1849, the Franco-Prussian War,
Turgenev’s arrest in Russia, Louis’s heartbreak and resignation, and the highs
and lows of their artistic careers. --Goodreads
Common Appeals
Biographical Fiction - Atmospheric - Dramatic - Moving - Romantic
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
Feisty Thea Kronborg, with her rapturous singing voice, is
headed for great things. But her upbringing in a raw, provincial Colorado town
has practically stifled her artistic ambitions. Only a few people in Moonstone
recognize Thea’s world-class talent. One of them is Ray Kennedy, who, entranced
by Thea’s voice, hopes to marry her, but is destined to unchain her.
Sustained
by determination and a pioneer’s spirit, and inspired by the Native American
culture that surrounded her in youth, Thea makes her way in the world. But with
loneliness as her constant companion, she comes to realize what sacrifices a
true artist must make.… --Goodreads
Common Appeals
Opera singer - Moving - Man-woman relationship
Jackie and Maria: A Novel of Jackie Kennedy & Maria Callas by Gill Paul
Jackie Kennedy is beautiful, sophisticated, and
contemplating leaving her ambitious young senator husband. When she is offered
a holiday on the luxurious yacht owned by billionaire Ari Onassis, she says
yes...to a meeting that will ultimately change her life.
Maria Callas is at the
height of her operatic career and considered to be the finest soprano in the
world. And then she's introduced to Aristotle Onassis, and finds her life being
turned upside down by this intelligent and charming man.
Little by little,
Maria’s and Jackie’s lives begin to overlap, until everything they know about
the world changes on a dime. --NoveList
Common Appeals
Biographical Fiction - Dramatic - Moving - Richly-detailed - Well-researched
3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors:
Florence! Foster!! Jenkins!!!: The Life of the World's Worst Opera Singer by Darryl W. Bullock
Madame Jenkins couldn't carry a tune in a bucket: despite
that, in 1944 at the age of 76, she played Carnegie Hall to a capacity audience
and had celebrity fans by the score. Her infamous 1940s recordings are still
highly-prized today. In his well-researched and thoroughly entertaining
biography, Darryl W. Bullock tells of Florence Foster Jenkins meteoric rise to
success and the man who stood beside her, through every sharp note.
Florence was ridiculed for her poor control of timing, pitch, and tone, and
terrible pronunciation of foreign lyrics, but the sheer entertainment value of
her caterwauling packed out theatres around the United States, with the
'singer' firmly convinced of her own talent, partly thanks to the devoted
attention for her husband and manager St Clair Bayfield. Her story is one of
triumph in the face of adversity, courage, conviction and of the belief that
with dedication and commitment a true artist can achieve anything. --Goodreads
Nemesis: The True Story of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie O, and the Love Triangle That Brought Down the Kennedys by Peter Evans
Shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis and Bobby Kennedy, two of
the world′s richest and most powerful men, disliked one another from the moment
they first met. Over several decades, their intense mutual hatred only grew, as
did their desire to compete for the affections of Jackie, the keeper of the
Camelot flame.
Now, this shocking work by seasoned investigative journalist Peter Evans
reveals the culmination of the Kennedy-Onassis-Kennedy love triangle: Onassis
was at the heart of the plot to kill Bobby Kennedy. Nemesis meticulously traces
Onassis′s trail - his connections, the way that he financed the assassination -
and includes a confession kept secret for three decades. With its deeply
nuanced portraits of the major figures and events that shaped an era, Nemesis
is a work that will not soon be forgotten. --Goodreads
Maria Callas: An Intimate Biography by Anne Edwards
The second daughter of Greek immigrant parents, Maria found
herself in the grasp of an overwhelmingly ambitious mother who took her away
from her native New York and the father she loved, to a Greece on the eve of
the Second World War. From there, we learn of the hardships, loves and triumphs
Maria experienced in her professional and personal life.
We are introduced to
the men who marked Callas forever―Luchino Visconti, the brilliant homosexual
director who she loved hopelessly, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, the husband
thirty years her senior who used her for his own ambitions, as had her mother,
and Aristotle Onassis, who put an end to their historic love affair by
discarding her for the widowed Jacqueline Kennedy. Throughout her life, Callas
waged a constant battle with her weight, a battle she eventually won,
transforming herself from an ugly duckling into the slim and glamorous diva who
transformed opera forever, whose recordings are legend, and whose life is the
stuff of which tabloids are made. --Goodreads
References
Goodreads. (2024). An Unofficial Marriage: A Novel About Pauline Viarodot and Ivan Turgenev.
Goodreads. (2024). Florence! Foster!! Jenkins!!!: The Life of the World's Worst Opera Singer.
Wyatt, N., & Saricks, J. G. (2019). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction (3rd ed.). ALA Editions.
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