Synopsis
A celebration of the cabaret era and the magical ascent of cinema, set against the rise and fall of Berlin- "a dazzling epic [novel] of survival." (Emma Donoghue, author of Slammerkin)
The orphaned daughter of a cabaret performer, Lilly Aphrodite finds refuge at a Catholic orphanage-and a trajectory of reinvention, seduction, and danger begins. From urchin to maid, war bride to model, Lilly eventually finds her destiny as a famous silent-film star, and enters into a sweeping romance that, crossing decades and continents, becomes inextricable from the astonishing historical events unfolding around it.
The New York Times - 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.