Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Unavailable
The Glimmer Palace
Unavailable
The Glimmer Palace
Unavailable
The Glimmer Palace
Audiobook14 hours

The Glimmer Palace

Written by Beatrice Colin

Narrated by Justine Eyre

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 24, 2008
ISBN9781436243483
Unavailable
The Glimmer Palace
Author

Beatrice Colin

Beatrice Colin is the bestselling author of The Glimmer Palace (US title)/The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite (UK title), which was a Richard and Judy best read of 2009. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

More audiobooks from Beatrice Colin

Related to The Glimmer Palace

Related audiobooks

Literary Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Glimmer Palace

Rating: 3.5555555555555554 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

9 ratings9 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite opens with Lily's birth. Her mother could be described as Bohemian and unconventional but her homelife is soon to be replaced by the 'family' she inherits as an orphan in a Berlin orphanage. Lily eventually befriends the streetwise Hanne who shows her life outside their home. When the orphanage closes Hanne and Lily lose touch (a recurring theme) and Lily has to grow up in a hurry as she struggles to survive in a brutal, war torn Germany.

    This is where the real story begins and life for Lily just seems to be one trauma to deal with after another.

    Things are bleak, depressing, grim and hopeless. Through it all though, Lily seems to keep her chin up, while all around her people are dropping like flies and making poor choices. There's not a lot of luminosity in Lily's life though, despite what the title tells you. I had thought that Lily would make a name for herself as an actress and I'd be able to revel in the success she enjoyed, but mostly there isn't a lot to celebrate. Any success she has is accidental or brought about by being in the right place at the right time and I never got the impression that Lily was very instrumental in getting to where she was.

    Most of her good luck stems from the fact that she was breathtakingly beautiful with haunting eyes and a voice like a caress.....at least that's how everyone else sees her, Lily herself doesn't know what the fuss is about.

    I didn't hate the book, but it's difficult for me to really love a book when things are so bleak. I was hoping for the payoff at the end, where some sort of reward was waiting for Lily, to compensate for all the hardship and fight she had to contend with, but No, the end is the worst part of all.....for Lily at least.

    Beautifully written, and very well researched, it's brings the German era surrounding the first world war and the Weimar rule startlingly into focus.
    I suppose it's content can be best summed up by the cover artwork .... it's very Film-Noir.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Superficial book fiend that I am, I confess that I chose this novel without a clue as to the subject simply because of the garish but eyecatching cover, which reminded me of Tretchikoff's painting. However, although it's true that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, I wasn't disappointed. Beatrice Colin is a stunning writer, weaving poignant imagery into a bleak landscape of history, and redressing her own ignorance of time and place through the fictional biography of a German film star.Lilly Nelly Aprhodite is born in Berlin at the end of the old century, but takes her first gasp of breath on New Year's Day, 1900, 'as if she was determined to wait'. Her parents, an actress and her Bavarian lover, make a suitably dramatic exit, and baby Lilly is raised in an orphanage where she finds Sister August, an inspiring role model, and Hanne Schmidt, her broken yet resilient best friend. Growing older with the twentieth century, Lilly is raised on a promise, like the future of Berlin itself, but is left to survive as best she can. The poverty and hunger experienced during the First World War continue in peace time, and Lilly is abandoned, neglected and abused time and again, with only Hanne's dubious company to fall back on. The two of them muddle through, with Lilly employed as a maid for a depressive countess and then working with Hanne in a 'tingle-tangle' nightclub, before being 'discovered' and launched into a briefly successful career as a film star. Lilly's life is intertwined with Berlin, and the rise and fall of the city between the wars, but also with the fate of two men who love her: a bashful soldier during the First World War, and the noble Russian who starts Lilly on the path to stardom.It is hard to do justice to the powerful intimacy of this novel merely by describing the plot, because Lilly's 'luminous life' is part history and part fairy tale. Like the author, I have learned so much about Berlin between the wars, but Beatrice Colin's beautiful writing tempers harsh truth with her poetic phrasing: 'The city was full of the newly wed and newly widowed, half dressed in white, the other in black'. Even though Lilly's story is definitely depressing, and slowly paced for much of the book, I found myself almost instantly caught up in the narration and content to simply read and learn.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ever since I watched the German silent film Metropolis last year, I've been deeply fascinated with the early film industry. This novel follows Lilly Aphrodite from the dawn of the 20th century to the eve of World War II and gives readers an intimate glimpse into the world of Germany in the throes of World War I and the decadence of the 1920s German film industry.An interesting facet of the novel that sets it aside from other historical fiction is the structure. At the beginning of every chapter, the author opens with short unconnected stories about the German film industry and an accompanying photo from turn of the century Germany. I love historical fiction because it is an imagined story based on real events. These vignettes and photos help connect the reader with the era and the characters.Besides All Quiet on the Western Front, this is the first book I've read set in World War I. Reading about the complete devastation of the citizens of Germany in a textbook is one thing, but reading about it from the standpoint of Lilly personalizes the loss and poverty that was so widespread and gives the reader a glimpse as to how these circumstances led to the rise of Hitler in the '30s.For fans of historical fiction as well as the history of cinema.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The Glimmer Palace takes place in Berlin and spans the decades from the turn of the century right up the eve of WWII.Lilly Nellie Apphrodite (dubbed Tiny Lil as a child, known as Lidi during her acting career) is the main character in this novel. The plot centers on Lilly's early years in a Catholic orphanage and her improbable rise to fame as a silent film star. While the action is fast paced, the story is full of improbable twists and turns. I also thought that the ending was extremely disapointing. While I was underwhelmed by the overall story, Colin's writing will keep you turning the pages.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A Rare Glimpse into the Collapse of Berlin between two World WarsA most in-depth book that takes the reader from the birth of our heroine Lilly Nelly Aphrodite at the very beginning of the 20th century through her years in an orphanage and the poverty of the people of Berlin over the next few decades beginning with WWI. Lilly is orphaned shortly after her birth. The closure of the orphanage leaves the girls vulnerable to all kinds of situations on the streets and in the clubs. Although this book is fiction, it seems so real with an unusual glimpse of a major city’s downfall, it’s wild debauchery, the fight against starvation and finally the fear of being discovered as the wrong ethnic background as WWII begins. The stories are told with the conviction of truth.Don't get me wrong, the book is not about the wars, they are background, but you will not find battlefield hands on fighting as such; this is very much Lilly's story but one cannot be told without the results of the other.Lilly attempts to remain aloof from these methods of obtaining money or food, but eventually is discovered as a potential “true” actress. Her history eventually leads her to America but there is an ongoing love story throughout the book that is much of a “star-crossed” lovers story, which brings her back to Germany around 1940. My interest was held as much by the history of Berlin in these terrible times as it was by Lilly’s story. It is not often you will be taken on such a trip through life and I found the book fascinating because of it. I would certainly recommend this book for several reasons and on several levels. The research done is amazingly thorough, and the plot an eye-opener. These were turbulent times in many countries, but we rarely get to see the life on the opposite side. Very well written.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In the first few minutes of the year 1900 Lilly Nelly Aphrodite is born in Berlin, Germany. Her mother is a volatile, unmarried cabaret performer. By the time Lilly is two her parents are dead and she is placed in an orphanage where she will remain until she is in her early teens. Lily does not make friends easily and it is not until the age of about twelve when she makes the one friend who will remain a part of her life in the future, Hanne Schmidt.Hanne is a new arrival at the orphanage and is a couple of years older than Lilly. She shows Lilly the seedy world of nighttime Berlin, home to cheap cabaret bars called "Tingle-Tangles". The girls begin sneaking out of the orphanage at night to sell flowers in the clubs. When the orphanage is suddenly shut down shortly thereafter, Hanne deserts Lilly and disappears. As the build-up to World War I begins, Lilly tries to make her way in the world. She finds a job as a maid for a difficult Countess but it is not long before she is assaulted by the husband and must eventually leave. She encounters Hanne again as the deprivations that the war brings begin to set in. The necessities of life become scarce during the war and especially in it's aftermath, so the residents of Berlin throw themselves into the seedy nightlife of cabaret bars & cinemas. Any escape is preferable to the misery of daily life. It is at a cinema that Lilly meets Ilya Yurasov, a Russian who came to Berlin after the war and plays piano at the theater. He falls in love with Lilly and, with his contacts in the film industry, gets her a job typing film scripts. From the typing pool, Lilly is discovered. She begins to appear in movies and is an immediate success. But success does not bring the happiness that she thought it would and she is not able to enjoy her new life.I found this book difficult to get through. The author did a wonderful job with the historical setting of Berlin from 1900-1934, from the glitz and glamour to the starvation and despair. Unfortunately the characters were not very likable. They consistently made poor choices that contributed to their misery and kept them in the bad situations that they found themselves in. It made for a very dark, gritty, depressing novel. I'm sure that this was the author's intent, not all stories have happy endings, after all. But I did not enjoy it, though it was well written and the story was interesting.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Glimmer Palace by Beatrice Colin is one of the most engaging books I’ve read in a long time. From the first twenty pages I knew this was going to be a book I was going to want to read slowly, soaking in all of the details. Lilly Nelly Aphrodite was born in the final moments of the nineteenth century in Germany. The book follows her life from a Catholic orphanage in Berlin and brings to life in fine detail her life over the course of the next thirty four years. Poor Lilly constantly struggles with love, employment, poverty, and friendships while Germany struggles with it’s own problems. Lilly’s sweet innocence is eclipsed by the harsh world she lives in. Not having any family to help her out of difficult situations, she always finds a way to solve her problems, and maintains a long term, but sporadic friendship with another orphaned girl throughout the book. I felt the first three hundred pages of this book were very well written, but the last quarter of the book becomes almost of summary of success mirrored by tragedy, written more as an accounting of events rather than a story. Regardless, the entire book is very well written. Overall, this should be a very enjoyable book for readers who enjoy historical fiction, especially early twentieth century Germany, or for fans of the cinema, as much of this book revolves around the cinema.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not a bad book. It had a decent story and the characters were actual people instead of caricatures. That said, it seemed the lives of Lilly and Hanne were just one miserable, terrible event after another. I get that it was a difficult time, but some more happiness would have been nice. I would probably recommend this to a book group or reader that would be OK with the seriousness and the lack of a happy ending.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is the sad and epic tale of Lilly Nelly Aphrodite, born on the eve of the 20th century in Berlin. Her life spans what can only be described as an era of hardship and poverty in Germany. Yet Lilly always manages to survive through a series of events that would leave a lesser person broken. The Glimmer Palace is well-written and moving to the very last page. If you are looking for a tearjerker, this is the book for you.