The Glimmer Palace
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Born in Germany on December 31, 1899, Lilly Aphrodite is orphaned almost immediately: her lonely and tragic struggle for connection and survival drives Colin's haunting debut and offers an intriguing look at the early 20th-century German film industry. Soon after the orphanage where Lilly spends her early years closes, she goes to Berlin to live with Hanne, an independent and fearless teenage girl who works in a bar and subsists on men's handouts. As life in WWI Germany becomes increasingly bleak, Lilly must cope with Hanne's sudden departures, find work, fend off troublesome men and unwelcome women, and make love (when she finds it) last when each day more soldiers are sent off to war. The out-of-nowhere growth of the German silent film business is charted along with Lilly's progress as a budding star, but she's drawn more to Russian exile Ilya Yurasov, who directs her, than to her increasing fame. With the rise of the Nazi Party comes a drain of cultural talent, and Lilly (now Lidi), must choose among several paths open to her. This grim and sorrowful novel will captivate readers as it recreates Germany's cinematic revolution and the country's subsequent tragic course through history.
