Thanks to Netgalley and Head of Zeus Audiobooks, it was such a treat! When thinking about opera, is there anyone more famous, more magnificent than Maria Callas that comes to mind? Personally I can’t conjure up anyone that was such a legend! And yet I found myself realising that I knew very little of Maria Callas as a person, as a woman. Thanks to Daisy Goodwin’s gorgeous prose I was able to dive into La Divina’s psyche, what was driving her, her flaws, her extraordinary force. She was a fierce and powerful woman, a pioneer who merged her personal experience with her work, bringing to life her characters by drawing from her own feelings, transcending her voice and body, translating her profound quest for love into her performances. A true inspiration ! “Great Art is domination. It’s making people believe for that precise moment in time there’s only one way, one voice, mine.” The writing is exquisite, you can hear the words sing, the notes in each phrase, and in the audio version there are also pieces sang by Callas herself which makes the experience all the more immersive! The narrator is fabulous and brings a lot to the story, I personally think this was perfection as an audiobook, the best way to travel back in time and meet the greatest opera singer of all times.

What a superb read this book Diva is! A factional account of the famed opera singer Maria Callas, this novel takes the reader from her childhood in Greece, to USA, to her worldwide travel as the supreme artist that she was, to her eventual relationship with Aristotle Onassis, another well- renowned Greek, a shipping magnate. The narrative flows beautifully, the descriptions of Maria’s at times tortured life, are riveting. I knew very little of Callas before I read this book, but since finishing it, I’ve read much more about her. She continues to fascinate me. I was initially interested as I am an amateur singer in a chorus, but I was completely blown away by this story. I’m also blown away by her incredible voice, as I’ve listened to some small excerpts of her singing an opera. The description of her childhood vocal tutor, that her beautiful voice was like a basket of golden coins, but that there were a finite number, and they would eventually run out, so she must guard her treasure and take care not to squander them, was so wonderful. My heart ached many times for the vulnerable Maria, when she was worked too hard by her ‘handlers’, exploited by her mother, betrayed by her hangers- on ‘friends’, seduced by Onassis. She was so terribly naive, and not at all worldly wise, sadly. An amazing story, beautifully told. I was captivated from the first page to the last. My grateful thanks to the publisher, and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication. My huge admiration to Daisy Goodwin the author, who brought Maria alive on the pages.

This was one of the greatest injustices of the 20th Century, when the operatic Diva Maria Callas was usurped by Jackie Kennedy. Jackie Kennedy shone through the 60s as the glamorous first landy and tragic widow, swiftly overshadowing the genius of Maria Callas when she married Maria's love, Aristotle Onassis. This is a memoir of the jet set in a different era and it is told wonderfully The audiobook is well written and reflects the times, where a woman will give up her independance for love, especially when her voice will not last for ever. A great audiobook for people who like to see all sides of history Thank you to NetGalley for this awesome audiobook. The review is left voluntarily

It's difficult to put into words how I felt about this novel. Whilst penned as work of fiction, the parallels to Maria Callas, the real person, are too frequent for me not to view it as biographical. The book is so well written, as reader I was rooting for Maria from the offset. I'd not heard about her before and found myself putting the book down a lot to look her up. In fact, I ended up down a rabbit hole of Wikipedia. There were so many people in the book whose story I wanted to know. Both the book and her real life are fascinating - what a life she had. A loveless childhood with an awful sounding mother, seperatated from her loving father for her mother's benefit. Then a plethora of unsuitable people in her life who were there to take advantage of her for their own pleasure or gain. All those years she gave Ari for him to do what he did - she deserved so much more. Her talent made her one of, if not, the greatest sopranos the world has ever seen and she will be remembered forever more. Sadly though, her life mapped out like the tragic plotline of one of her beloved operas and I think this will forever be part of her legacy.

Maria Callas was a world famous opera singer, a diva and was known as la the divine one. Maria had one of the best Soprano voices of all time and don't mention her trills, when she took to the stage her performances were perfect and flawless and many of her fans cried tears of joy. Maria was born in 1923, in Manhattan, New York to Greek parents, her mother Litza was domineering and decided to return to Greece when Maria was thirteen and leave her husband George. Maria never felt good enough and her sister Jackie was her mother’s favourite, Maria sang during the Second World War so they could eat and it didn't change her mothers attitude towards her. Maria married Giovanni Meneghini, he was in charge of her schedule, and he expected her to sing too often and she worried her vocal chords would be damaged from overuse. Maria encounters rich shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, she falls madly in love with him and the couple are together for over nine years. During this time Maria meets some of the world most influential people, including Sir Winston and Lady Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Prince Rainer III of Monaco and Princess Grace. Ari showered Maria with expensive gifts, cruises on his lavish boat the "Christina", despite both being divorced Maria and Ari never married and it was the security and faithfulness she craved and not diamonds. In my opinion Ms. Goodwin wrote about the real Maria Callas, the teenager who felt her mother didn’t love her, Maria was chubby, she lost weight and constantly worried about putting back on, she always felt unsure, where to preform and how many shows, what songs to sing, should she sign a record contract and give into pressure to make a movie? When Maria finds out Aristotle Onassis had married the former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, she’s heartbroken and of course he didn’t tell her. For Maria this was a defining moment, with the help of her faithful maid and companion Bruna, Maria decided she wanted to start singing again, and opera is her true love and she’s better than ever. Ms. Goodwin's narrative was fascinating, well written and I rode the highs and lows of Maria Callas’s career, her personal life and five stars from me.