The Diva by Daisy Goodwin

 

They were the two most famous Greeks in the world.  Maria Callas was the leading opera singer.  Aristotle Onassis was one of the richest men in the world.  When they met, they were both married to other people but the passion they felt for each other could not be denied.  They spent the next decade together but it was not an easy relationship.

While Onassis loved Callas, he continued to have relationships with other women and then eventually married the former First Lady, Jackie Kennedy after having an affair with her sister, Lee Radziwill.  Maria had married a man who also was her manager for her early career but ended her marriage once she met Onassis.  In her divorce, he ended up with much of her money.

In this novel, Daisy Goodwin tells Maria's story, her recognition that a singer has a purse of golden coins which is the number of performances before the voice starts to change and go.  Maria lived for her music for much of her career but once she met Aristotle, she changed and started living for love.  The relationship broadened her emotional repertoire as she experience the emotions of love and jealousy that many of her opera roles portrayed.  

Daisy Goodwin has made a career of writing the stories of famous women.  Most are set in Victorian times and she also wrote the screenplay for the television series Victoria.  In this book, she has moved into more recent times and explored the life and loves of a woman who is not a ruler.  Callas was the reigning singer of her time but she never managed to marry the love of her life or have a good family relationship with her mother or sister.  Does greatness require pain?  This book is recommended for readers of women's fiction.