The Glimmer Palace, Beatrice Colin
The Glimmer Palace, Beatrice Colin
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
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The Glimmer Palace

Author: Beatrice Colin

Narrator: Justine Eyre

Unabridged: 14 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 07/24/2008


Synopsis

A celebration of cabaret in Berlin and the birth of cinema, set against the rise and fall of Germany between World War I and World War II

As the clock chimed the turn of the twentieth century, Lilly Nelly Aphrodite took her first breath. The illegitimate, soon orphaned daughter of a cabaret performer, she lands at a Catholic orphanage where she finds refuge and the first in a string of friendships that will change the direction of her life. When fellow orphan Hanne takes Lilly beyond their stone confines, introducing her to the seedy glamour of Berlin’s notorious nightlife, it begins for Lillly a trajectory of reinvention. From urchin to maid, teenage war bride, tingle-tangle bargirl, model, and script typist, Lilly is eventually transformed into one of Germany’s leading film stars and a partner in a remarkable love story that will span decades and continents—and be inextricable from the history unfolding around it.

Gripping, seductive, and masterfully written, The Glimmer Palace is a page-turning story of glitter and splendor, drama and love, friendship and identity. The story of an extraordinary heroine living in an extraordinary time, it is vivid and surprising in its telling, intelligent and ambitious in its scope, sad and beautiful and unforgettable.
 

About The Author

Beatrice Colin, born in London and raised in Scotland, is the author of the novel The Glimmer Palace. She has also worked as a freelance journalist, writing for publications such as The Guardian, and as a playwright, writing radio plays for the BBC. Colin lives in Glasgow.Justine Eyre is an Audie Award–winning narrator with almost 300 titles to her credit. AudioFile magazine named her a Best Voice for Young Adult titles in 2013. Classically trained, she has appeared on stage, film, and television in such shows as Two and a Half Men and Mad Men.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Baba on August 12, 2024

Berlin from 1900 to the early 1930s - viewed through the life of an orphaned half Jewish / half German aristocrat Lilly, who became a famous actress. From an orphanage, from near starvation during WW1 to stardom and Hollywood; and also the rise of Nazism. An wonderful book, based on the ever evolvin......more

Goodreads review by Blair on August 07, 2014

I struggled with this a bit at the beginning but went on to discover that it is in fact a fantastic read - very atmospheric and assiduously well-researched, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or is even remotely interested in the history and culture of Germany (specifically......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on December 25, 2012

I can't exactly pinpoint why I didn't much care for this book. It was overwritten, but so are a lot of early twentieth-century historical fiction books, and this one had some pretty good moments. It's not as ambitious or poignant as it tries to be, but it manages to be pretty interesting. Must be th......more

Goodreads review by Abigail on August 01, 2018

I really don't know how to rate this. I have wrote about this book in my journal the past couple of nights because it gives me all of the mixed feelings. The writing in this book is stunning- I feel like I am reading some mix of poetry with fiction and it is delicious. I also think the premise of th......more

Goodreads review by Carey on September 04, 2008

In the first few minutes of the year 1900 Lilly Nelly Aphrodite is born in Berlin, Germany. Her mother is a volatile, unmarried cabaret performer. By the time Lilly is two her parents are dead and she is placed in an orphanage where she will remain until she is in her early teens. Lily does not make......more


Quotes

"This extravaganza had me from page one."
-Emma Donoghue, author of Slammerkin

"Colin's heroine, Lilly Aphrodite, is as rich, alive, and dangerous as the city she inhabits; and as the novel progresses, Berlin's history becomes her own."
-David Ebershoff, author of The 19th Wife and The Danish Girl

"Absorbing...Deftly captur[es] the era's sense of frenzied invention and seductive promise."
-The New York Times Book Review