From a writer praised by Junot Díaz as 'the fire, in my opinion, and the light', Alexander Chee's mesmerizing novel The Queen of the Night follows one woman's rise from circus rider to courtesan to world-renowned star.
A 'wild opera of a novel', The Queen of the Night tells the story of Lilliet Berne, an orphan who leaves the American frontier for Europe and is swept into the glamour and terror of Second Empire France. She becomes a sensation of the Paris Opera, with every accolade but an original role - her chance at immortality. When one is offered to her, she finds the part is based on her deepest secret, something only four people have ever known. But who has betrayed her?