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The Glimmer Palace

Name: The Glimmer Palace
Author: Beatrice Colin
ISBN: 9781440637100

by Beatrice Colin

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Overview

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

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. She lives in Glasgow.

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Editorials

Mike Peed

The Glimmer Palace opens at the turn of the 20th century and closes as Hitler prepares to start World War II. Colin, the British author of two previous novels, frames Lilly's story with scenes from the larger history of the German film industry, at its height in the 1920s. She wedges self-contained, fictionalized vignettes between chapters, deftly capturing the era's sense of frenzied invention and seductive promise.
—The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

Covering the life of Lilly Nelly Aphrodite from the turn of the century until World War II, this overly familiar historical novel takes the listener inside the clubs and film industry of Berlin. German accents depict most of the characters; it probably would have been wiser for Justine Eyre and her director to take the Berlin setting as a given, for little attention is paid to class differences. Only an American movie mogul sounds genuine. Eyre portrays Lilly as delicate and sweet; unfortunately, she reads Ilya, Lilly's main love interest, in much the same way, except with a Russian accent. Lilly's best friend Hanna has a gruffer voice that predictably imitates Marlene Dietrich. Though the narrative is clear enough to avoid confusion, most of the women sound exactly alike and boredom is inescapable. A Riverhead hardcover (Reviews, May 5).
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Library Journal

Lilly Nelly Aphrodite's lonely, ultimately tragic journey from impoverished orphan to film star showcases the decadence, cruelty, and haunting beauty of early 20th-century Berlin in journalist/playwright Colin's third novel (following Nude Untitled and Disappearing Acts), in which she offers listeners a unique feminine perspective on a place and time rarely explored in historical fiction. The well-drawn secondary characters, perfectly voiced by Justine Eyre (Wives Behaving Badly), add much to this captivating novel, also a powerful commentary on the human cost of war. Highly recommended for all literary fiction collections. [Audio clips available through library.booksontape.comand us.penguingroup.com; the Riverhead hc, too, was "highly recommended," LJ6/15/08.-Ed.]
—Beth Farrell

Kirkus Reviews

While Germany falls apart, a determined girl with a dark past becomes a screen goddess, in the British author's intelligent if lengthy latest novel (Disappearing Act, 2002, etc.). Orphaned Lilly Nelly Aphrodite is destined for fame, but her route will be circuitous, eventful and unhappy. A neglected, rebellious infant, she spends her early years in a bleak orphanage, is impregnated by her first employer, undergoes an abortion, nearly starves during World War I and marries a beautiful soldier who is then declared missing in action. What sustains Lilly are her lifelong friendship with fellow orphan Hanne and her resolute spirit. As the war ends and Berlin begins its slide into political chaos, Lilly gets a typing job at the Deutsche Bioscop studio, then finds herself acting in a film under the direction of Russian Ilya Yurasov, with whom she falls in love. A natural on the screen, Lilly is soon a star, but shadows are gathering in the form of Ilya's long-lost fiance Katya; Lilly's husband (not dead after all, but disfigured); and of course the Nazis. Colin's tale of friendship, fate and fascism begins with an irreverent, quirky tone but soon turns more brooding. Happy endings are few. The freshness fades as the drawn-out, downbeat story traverses familiar terrain to reach its doomed conclusion. Agent: Simon Trewin/PFD