Daisy Goodwin

Daisy Goodwin owes Maria Callas a posthumous apology - not to mention Tina Onassis, Grace Kelly, Winston Churchill, Lee Radziwill and various other real life names with more skill and personality in their headstones than the author. I will admit that I only knew of Callas as the woman scorned by that repulsive hairy toad Onassis, who (let's be honest) bought all the women in his life, but she didn't deserve this treatment. With fictional biographers like this, who needs enemies? The author's show more note at the start of the novel should have been more along the lines of 'abandon hope all ye who enter' rather than 'I played with the timeline for dramatic effect, teehee'.

Apart from the clunky and amateur writing ('jumping up and down in excitement like an excited child'), I'm not even sure what image of Maria Callas Goodwin was trying to convey - do we admire her for building her natural talent into fame and fortune, as opposed to 'women with no direction beyond finding a man to finance their lifestyle'? Pity her for throwing away her independence on a womanising slick of oil like Onassis, which is somehow different to his teenage first wife or Jackie Kennedy and her sister, because Callas was a 'real woman' who only wanted to make her man happy? I honestly thought I was reading an ode to Onassis written by a male author - Maria's life story is defined by the few years she wasted on him, and he is the only person to receive fair treatment in the whole book. Even Grace Kelly, who is portrayed as a bitter drunk flirting with Onassis when in reality she had taste enough to hate him, is thrown under the bitchy bus. 'All I have done is smile and wave and have a couple of kids,' Goodwin actually has the Princess of Monaco tell Maria - which is a bad thing, despite the fact that Grace Kelly was also a self-made working woman before she married, because ... Well, I lose track. Maybe because she didn't get to marry Ari and have his children (which Maria didn't either, despite the rumours that Goodwin obviously latched onto)? I actually threw up a little in my mouth when Grace Kelly was rebuffed by Onassis - 'Grace was beautiful, and he could see the wickedness underneath the porcelain skin, but at this moment she left him cold.' Please!

Listen, Maria Callas made one big - or rather, short and squat - mistake in her life, but she was a real woman with incredible talent. Here, she and all of the other personalities in her life, apart from Onassis of course, are reduced to caricatures. How any author can suck the life out of people who actually lived documented lives is beyond me, but I think Goodwin started her research with Wikipedia as a checklist and then turned history into a soap opera. The bubble-headed first wife who deserved to lose her meal ticket - despite coming from a wealthy family herself - because she didn't love her cheating husband enough The calculating actress turned princess who wants the best of both worlds and throws herself at a man with gold taps on his yacht in the presence of her husband. The blameless bimbo who is better than the other actress because she too came from nothing and is therefore portrayed as a victim. The 'stick insect' women out for what they can get, despite maintaining a svelte figure being some kind of achievement in other women who also steal husbands. Not forgetting the mercenary first husband who 'admired Callas the great diva and not Maria the woman' and couldn't give his infertile wife a child.

I'm sorry for contributing to the author's gold coins, Madame Callas, even if I only paid 99p. You and every woman slated in this book deserve far better. show less

It feels like it has been awhile since I read a book that felt strictly like pleasure reading, and Victoria was perfect in that regard. Goodwin's storytelling is wonderful - - I felt transported to the 19th century and captivated by the story of an 18 year old Queen who simultaneously must contend with the responsibilities and politics of her position and the normal coming of age problems. The story has historical detail, enough to set the scene, but not too much to bog you down, romance, a show more bit of fashion, and some political challenges - - all of which are presented in a completely engaging way.

Victoria takes the throne as an 18 year old, and her first challenge is contending with her Duchess mother's boyfriend's power grabbing ways. She finds a confident in her adviser, Lord Melbourne, and her reliance on him grows as she deals with the challenges of being such a young, petite ruler. The question of her marriage is, as you might expect, a huge deal and a large focus of the book.

I'm not normally a person who reads romance, but I really did enjoy the sweet way Goodwin portrays Victoria's coming of age, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this one to people looking for a light, very enjoyable historical fiction read. I believe it is going to be made into a mini series too, so that should make it extra fun!

The only reason I didn't give it five stars is that it isn't very literary nor original, and I save my fifth stars for something that makes a book out of the ordinary. Something that makes me go "wow". This book didn't have that, but it was completely enjoyable. show less

I wouldn't call this book an absolute disaster, but it's a first book, and it reads like it. To be more precise, it reads like the manuscript of a novel that was, probably rightfully, never published, an author's awkward first steps. I always tend to blame the publishing company when a novel shows signs of talent but generally lands with a thud. There used to be editors who would save the author from her failings, correcting errors of vocabulary, of grammar, of historical plausibility, of show more pacing and of characterization. There appears to have been none of that saving action here. I know that the author is successful in several fields, and went on to write more books; I hope they're better. show less

Wonderful, wonderful book. A fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek page turner that centers on the uber-rich American heiress Cora Cash (get it?) and how her headstrong, social-climbing, super-scary mom successfully manages to marry off her only child to an English duke, a fancy title being the only thing the 19-year-old American beauty is missing. And thus the over-the-top fun begins as Cora begins to question just what the heck she's gotten herself into and whose life she's really living. Crammed show more with lavish and fantastical 19th-century period detail and mores, memorable characters and just the right amount of plot complexity, this is a fun, easy read and especially satisfying if you're a fan of PBS' recent mini-series "Downton Abbey". (Season 2 starts in Jan. 2012; can't wait!). Highly recommend. show less