In the tradition of Michel Faber and Sarah Waters, a literary historical novel about an orphan girlâs journey from poverty to film stardom, set against the grand backdrop of World War I Berlin, the cabaret era, the run-up to World War II, and the innovations in art and industry that accompanied it all.
Big, rich, intelligent, and masterfully written, here is a page-turning story of glitter and splendor, drama and love, friendship and identity, and an illuminating account of a period of history that foreshadowed much of the twentieth century.
As the clock chimes the turn of the twentieth century, Lilly Nelly Aphrodite takes her first breath. The illegitimate, orphaned daughter of a cabaret performer, she finds early refuge at a Berlin Catholic orphanage. From there follows a lifetime of reinventions, from orphan to maid, war bride, tingle-tangle nightclub girl, and script typist. Her eventual transformation into one of Germanyâs leading silent-film stars, and a partner in a remarkable romance that crosses decades and continents, could ultimately cost her everything she has worked for.
Gripping and seductive like few other literary novels, The Glimmer Palace showcases the glamour, spectacle, and theatrical energy of the brief heyday of the Weimar Republic, while at the same time telling the story of that other great twentieth-century illusionâcinema.
âAs spellbinding as the era in which its set, Beatrice Colinâs The Glimmer Palace is a rare marriage of muscular scholarship and high romance. In the chiaroscuro of Lillyâs coming of ageâfrom orphan to struggling war bride to triumphant and ultimately vulnerable film starâweâre given all the flashes of brilliance and deep shadow that defined the birth of an industry and a troubled century.â
âSheri Holman, author of The Dress Lodger and The Mammoth Cheese
âWritten with intelligence and shimmer, The Glimmer Palace transports the reader to Berlin in the first part of the twentieth century. Colinâs heroine, Lilly Aphrodite, is as rich, alive, and dangerous as the city she inhabits; and as the novel progresses, Berlinâs history becomes her own.â
âDavid Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl and The 19th Wife
âThere are few characters as beguiling as the incomparable Tiny Lil. And Colin tells her riveting storyâand the enthralling story of prewar Berlinâbreathlessly and triumphantly.â
âJennifer Gilmore, author of Golden Country
âAs moving as it is smart, this extravaganza had me from page one. The Glimmer Palace is a dazzling epic of survival in the urban wilderness of cabaret-era Berlin.â
âEmma Donoghue, author of Slammerkin and Life Mask
âCaptivatingâ¦Beatrice Colinâs irresistible novel, The Glimmer Palace, follows the eventful life of a Berlin orphan who becomes a rising star in the brand-new medium of the cinema. Early 20th-century Berlin is just like Colinâs main character: anything it wants to be and full of promise to be more. . . . Colinâs memorable tale is also the story of Germanyâs film industry between the wars. Though the historical detail rings true, it is a mere backdrop to the compelling story of Lilly⦠The Glimmer Palace is haunting.â
âBookpage
âAbsorbing⦠Deftly captur[es] the eraâs sense of frenzied invention and seductive promise. Born on New Yearâs Eve in 1899, Lilly is the incarnation of this toxic mix of glitter and despair. Over the course of nearly half a century, as troops parade through Berlin and bread lines erupt into riots, she is transformed, almost accidentally, from Tiny Lil, the unwanted baby, to Lidi, one of Germanyâs most celebrated film stars⦠[Colin] writes with a supple, whimsical charm.â
âThe New York Times Book Review
â[An] exceptional novel about an orphan who becomes a celebrated silent film actress at the height of the Weimar Republic, but who risks everything for a happy ending. With its fast pace and unusual turns of plot, this novel lives up to its titleâ¦.Without a doubt, Colin is an entertaining storytellerâ¦.her narrative is curt, precise, and touched with irony. But however brisk her sentences can sound, she is never afraid to explore the abandonment and desperation her characters experience. In Lilly, Colin has created a heroine who is so full of beauty and bad luck that one wonders whether to envy or pity her. Yet there is something quite charming about a girl who acts only with her eyes, and the curiosity about Lilly Nelly Aphrodite only gets stronger as the novel progresses.â
âSunday Herald
âIn this confident debut, Colin creates a filmic and evocative description of life in Berlinâfrom the cusp of the 20th century to the Weimar Republic and the rise of National Socialism â seen through the prism of Germany's burgeoning film industry. Orphaned before she was two, Lilly spent the first 10 years of her life in an orphanage. But outside this safe haven, society was in flux. Colin's descriptions of Berlin are as vibrant and alive as Lilly and the rich cast of characters around her.â
âThe Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday
âWe are entranced by the character that Beatrice Colin creates and the world she inhabits: the Kaiserâs Berlin before and during the first world war and then the decadent aftermath that was the Weimar Republic. Meticulously researched by Colin, a Glaswegian novelist whose family were themselves immigrants from Russia via Berlin, [The Glimmer Palace] shows early 20th- century Berlin as a magical but harsh imperial city whose suffering from 1914 to 1918 is seldom acknowledged in this country. How Lilly survives turnips and the cold to become the leading silent movie star of her day drives the narrative of this book. The fictional actress overlaps with the real- life Dietrich and other, forgotten stars of the early screen, such as Henny Porten, who was persecuted after 1933 for marrying a Jew. But this is not fact dressed as fiction. While Dietrich entertained allied troops in Europe, such was her loathing of the Nazi regime, Lillyâs relationship with the Nazis is more complex and hesitant â as it was for many in the industry. The storytelling is masterful and the language magical. [The Glimmer Palace] is a rich book, in both its prose and in the strength of its characters, whose lives cross in the chaos of war and its brief, glittering aftermath.â
âThe Sunday Times
âIn this engrossing, romantic historical novelâ¦Colin depicts World War I, sleazy cabarets, massive unemployment, the Nazi empire, and the even more savage horrors of World War II, all navigated by a strong, determined heroine.â
âBooklist
âCaptivatingâ¦Beatrice Colinâs irresistible novel, The Glimmer Palace, follows the eventful life of a Berlin orphan who becomes a rising star in the brand-new medium of the cinema. Early 20th-century Berlin is just like Colinâs main character: anything it wants to be and full of promise to be more. . . . Colinâs memorable tale is also the story of Germanyâs film industry between the wars. Though the historical detail rings true, it is a mere backdrop to the compelling story of Lilly⦠The Glimmer Palace is haunting.â
âBookpage
âThis is a big, plush velvet cushion of a book, dense with historical detail and already picking up comparisons to Sarah Watersâ weighty, sexy epics. Itâs the story of Lilly Aphrodite, an orphan turned silent movie star, whose trajectory mirrors Germanyâs freefall from warring, empire- building superpower, through the Depression and seduction by Nazism, between 1900 and 1936. Colinâs omniscient narration recalls Muriel Spark at her sharpest and pokes into the futures of even the least significant supporting character, following them into trenches, concentration camps, hopes, regrets and reminiscences.â
âThe List
âColin deftly weaves into the narrative ongoing observations on cinema as a form of entertainment needed and craved by a bereft populace, and she eventually brings this aspect of the novel to the forefront. Highly recommended.â
âLibrary Journal
Beatrice Colin was born in London and raised in Scotland. She has worked as a freelance journalist, writing for publications including The Guardian, and as a playwright, writing radio plays for the BBC.
Imprint: Riverhead Hardcover
Distributor: Penguin Group USA, Inc
Publication Date: 07-24-2008
Pages: 416
Measurements: 9.30in X 6.28in X 1.45in X 1.36lb