The Primadonna

by F. Marion Crawford

She was rather incoherent, and Lady Maud took the paper from her hand quietly, and found the article at once. It was as 'horrid' as the Primadonna said it was. No names were given in full, but there could not be the slightest mistake about the persons referred to, who were all clearly labelled by bits of characteristic description. It was all in the ponderously airy form of one of those more or less true stories of which some modern weeklies seem to have an inexhaustible supply, but it was a particularly vicious specimen of its class so far as Mr. Van Torp was concerned.

Genres: Classics

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

Francis Marion Crawford (1854-1909) was an American writer noted for his many novels. He was born at Bagni di Lucca, Italy. In 1879 he went to India, where he studied Sanskrit and edited the Allahabad Indian Herald. Returning to America he continued to study Sanskrit at Harvard University for a year, contributed to various periodicals, and in 1882 produced his first novel, Mr Isaacs. This book had an immediate success, and its author's promise was confirmed by the publication of Doctor Claudius: A True Story (1883). After a brief residence in New York and Boston, in 1883 he returned to Italy, where he made his permanent home. He also published the historical works, Ave Roma Immortalis (1898), Rulers of the South (1900) renamed Sicily, Calabria and Malta in 1904, and Gleanings from Venetian History (1905). The Saracinesca series is perhaps known to be his best work, with the third in the series, Don Orsino, set against the background of a real estate bubble, told with effective concision. A fourth book in the series, Corleone, was the first major treatment of the Mafia in literature.

Reviews

[Dorcas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A continuation of Fair Margaret, Primadonna being the second in a trilogy, (the last being "The Diva's Ruby").

In The Primadonna, Margaret Donn, otherwise known as madam Cordova is a successful artist in the height of her fame. One night there is an explosion in the theater and people trample to get out. In the middle of the chaos a woman is murdered and blame is passed from man to man.

It's a bit of a mystery in finding out the truth of what happened that night and who is innocent. Also ever present in the Primadonna's mind is when and whether to risk matrimony.