QUEEN
The Queen of the Night, my new novel out February 2nd, has made the best of 2016 preview lists for Book Riot, Bookish, Bustle, BBC Books, Huffington Post Books, Brooklyn Mag and Entertainment Weekly.
Last year at this time, my biggest fear was that I could work on a novel all this time and no one would care, so I’m incredibly happy and a little stunned. But I’ve accepted that all of this is real.
Early praise for The Queen of the Night:
“A night at an opera you’ll wish never-ending.”
–Helen Oyeyemi, author of Mr. Fox and Boy Snow Bird
“One doesn’t so much read Alexander Chee’s The Queen of the Night as one is bewitched by it. Beneath its epic sweep, gorgeous language, and haunting details is the most elemental, and eternal, of narratives: that of the necessities and perils of self-reinvention, and the sorrow and giddiness of aspiring to a life of artistic transcendance.”
–Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life and People In The Trees
“The Queen of the Night is a mesmerizing universe into which its lucky readers can dissolve completely, metamorphosing alongside its shapeshifting protagonist. Lilliet Berne steals her name from a gravestone and launches into a life of full-throated song; her voice is an intoxicant, and this book is a glorious performance. Chee’s enveloping, seductive prose is perfectly matched to the circus world of the opera.”
–Karen Russell, New York Times Best Selling author of Swamplandia! and Vampires In The Lemon Grove
“Alexander Chee packs his extraordinary second novel, The Queen of the Night, to the seams with music, love, misery, and secrets. The kind of book—world—characters—you could live inside, happily, for days and days and never once want to come up for air.”
–Kelly Link, author of Get In Trouble and Magic For Beginners
“A luminous tale of power and passion. Chee gives us an unforgettable heroine and a rich cast of characters—many of them real historical figures. The story dazzles and surprises right up until the final page.”
–J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times Best-Selling author of Maine and The Engagements
“Richly researched, ornately plotted, this story demands, and repays, close attention.”
–Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“Chee’s lush and sweeping second novel uses a strikingly different setting from his accomplished debut, Edinburgh, but shares its musical themes and boldness… a moving meditation on the transformative power of fate, art, time, and sheer survival.”
–Publishers’ Weekly
If you’re just arriving to this Tumblr for the first time after reading one of these lists, thank you and hello. However you got here, you can pre-order the novel here at your favorite bookseller. See you in February.
Not that my imprimatur is needed on top of all these accolades, but this book is really fucking excellent: all-absorbing and lush. Will definitely be on the Best of 2016 list I won’t get around to making. A must-read for historical fiction fans, especially those still pining for The Crimson Petal and the White (and also, strangely, for fans of My Notorious Life and The Secret History).
