Daisy Godwin, the historical fiction queen, is back in Diva, the historical fiction novel about Maria Callas, the queen of opera. Goodwin weaves Callas's background from being born during The American Depression in New York City to being a teenage girl stuck in Greece during World War II. Goodwin can give the reader an understanding of how Maria Callas's background affected her decisions in relationship and love and lays out the relationship of Callas's great love with Aristotle Onassis. While the press coined the couple as the two most famous Greeks in the world, Goodwin can let the readers understand the emotions and how mentally taxing the romance, relationship, and impact of this great love had on Maria Callas's life and career.

Suppose a reader enjoys a "modern" historical fiction novel. In that case, this book is for them as it weaves the jet-set lifestyle and amazing career of Callas along with the golden age of Hollywood with appearances from Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, and Jackie Kennedy. from performing in Paris, Rome, London, and Athens to yachting through The Mediterranean, this book weaves a tapestry of the glamours lifestyle. I enjoyed this novel because while I have always heard of Maria Callas as a side character in documentaries or books about Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy, this book helped me to understand that during her time, she was just as extremely famous and indeed was "The Diva" of her time.

I think we have a possible “Reese’s Book Club pick” on our hands with this book. Maria is a strong woman with an amazing opera voice. She learned to provide for herself at a young age by singing. Her voice is amazing and had helped her to become a diva in every aspect of life. And a Diva she is, from canceling shows to making ridiculous demands, even forbidding her friend from seeing her sister perform. But her voice also has its limits as she gets older and has used it as much as she has.
She becomes involved in a forbidden love. She thinks her and Ari are soulmates, but will love be enough? Can they survive her fame and his money? This love story shows Maria’s weakness and strength.
Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press for an ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review. If you love historical fiction and singer/celebrity books then this one is definitely for you.

Daisy Godwin has written an engrossing story about the life of Maria Callas. I was captivated from the beginning - learning about Greek history and geography, the life of Callas and her great love, Onassis and his wealth, and the drama they inflicted on each other and family members. Very interesting!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this amazing ARC.

I would like to thank Net Galley and St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC.I have read some books about Jackie Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis.I was in high school when they married , and remember the their wedding and surrounding press quite vividly. At the time I had little knowledge, or quite frankly , interest , in Maria Callas. Opera was for my grandparents. In recent years I have developed an interest in opera and in Maria Callas.I was very excited to read this book. t did not disappoint. It is fiction, so times, and places and events have been moved to fit the narrative. However, the story is well written and moving. It is a fun fast paced frothy read. I enjoyed it.It moves back and forth in time, from Maria's early days in New York, to growing up in Greece during World War II, to becoming the premiere diva of the opera. It is also the story of Aristotle Onassis, and his desire to have it all, fame money and women. The story plays out against a backdrop of glittering high society, famous people and famous names. I am very glad for the chance to read this book.

I am loving this book! I of course had heard of Maria Callas, but was not familiar with her other than an opera star in the 50's and 60's.

The story takes the reader behind the scenes into her life as a young girl and the complicated relationship she had with the people in her life, including her mother. And Ari Onassis! She wanted to marry him, but he instead wed Jackie Kennedy. Sadly she ended up alone, even with all the money and accolades for her phenomenal soprano voice.

The author took some creative license in the book, but that does not detract from this well researched portrait of an international super star. Highly recommended for all public libraries.

I enjoyed this book because it focused completely on Maria Callis. So many books like this just name drop and talk about the scandals. The author’s emphasize who Maria really is was refreshing. I liked the way the book developed who she truly was before meeting Onassis. I would read this author’s future works. Nice job!

Diva is a well-written and interesting historical history novel about Maria Callas, the greatest opera singer of her time. Her scandalous affair with Aristotle Onassis, the Greek tycoon, and the inside stories of celebrities make the book very fascinating. Maria Callas's drive to be the best, and her struggling relationship with her mother, sister, and those closest to her are engrossing.
Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

I enjoyed this look into real people I knew nothing about. The fictional parts made it more interesting as a story and I'm glad that I read it.

Impressive narrative! Packed with drama and scandal, this book held my attention with its intriguing storyline and a touch of excitement. The protagonist's mother significantly influenced the main character, albeit in a less favorable manner. Despite my reservations about the writing style, which didn't quite suit my taste, the overall experience was both entertaining and captivating.

Maria Callas was La Divina. The greatest opera singer of her time, and maybe all time! She grew up in Greece during the Nazi occupation. Her mother favored her sister until she heard Maria’s beautiful voice. Maria was the best at what she did. She was beautiful and talented and dramatic. One night, she met Aristotle Onassis, the worlds richest man. She guarded her heart (and she was married) but felt like in Onassis, she’d finally found her person. The one who would love HER. Not her money or her voice or her fame. HER. And he did. He showed her with love and gifts and money. Theirs was a passionate love affair until he broke her heart.

Amazing love story and historical fiction.

Old as I am, I knew nothing of this diva and her involvement with Onassis. I only knew that Jackie Kennedy ended up married to him, and that it was a big news story. This book made it all the more interesting, as it introduced me to Maria Callas, who was every bit what my definition of a diva would include. So self-centered, so sure of her talent. A captivating read.

This fascinating novel is a wonderful portrayal of the multidimensional woman that was Maria Callas. Born in New York to a Greek mother, she moves back to Greece as a young girl during the Nazi occupation. To survive her mother makes her sing on the streets, while at the same time she favors Maria’s older sister Jackie. Her father isn’t in the picture. It was a tough time, and Maria, an overweight, homely child with an amazing voice felt unloved and used. As she became an adult, her amazing voice brought her success and fame, but she still felt unloved. And then she meets Aristotle Onassis, a former cigarette boy who’s now a millionaire, maybe a billionaire. And Maria falls in love.

Diva is Maria’s story, of her successes and disappointments both professionally and most interesting, her personal disappointments. The affair with Aristotle (or Ari, as she calls him) is tempestuous, passionate, and ultimately disappointing. But Maria’s story, and the book, do not disappoint.

Maria Callas was the best know opera singer of her generation, with a peak in the 1950s and 60s. This is the fictional story of a short period of her life (about 10 years) when she was involved with Aristotle Onassis, the man who then went on to marry Jackie Kennedy.
The writing was stiff and unnatural; I never felt emotionally involved with Maria's story. In a way, I was more interested in the supporting cast (like Maria's maid-- what was THAT job like?).

An interesting, fascinating story of Maria Callas a famous opera singer I hadn't heard of before who had a love affair with Arisotle Onassis among other great things in her career. I learned so much about her as well as this period of time...and it even involves Jackie Kennedy as she marries Aristotle at the end of this story. A very well written, character driven story. `

Loved this dove I to the Siva we know as Callas - the author brought great empathy and understanding to her story

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was looking forward to learning about Callas as I am not familiar with her, or opera in general. It started off somewhat strong, but overall, it just didn't do it for me. The author used three different names for Maria's husband and I found that to be confusing numerous times. The POV was mostly by Maria, but then it would randomly switch for a few sentences here and there, and the overall effect felt clumsy. In addition, the sex scenes were repetitive, cringey, and really didn't seem to serve a purpose to the story. I understand she is trying to portray a passionate relationship, but I found that it didn't work that well. Finally, the last 1/2 really dragged and the opera comparisons and descriptions were cumbersome. However, I am but one reader and I'm certain this will be a better fit for others.

I was in junior and senior high school when the events in this book took place. I had heard the rumors about Maria Callas and Onassis but really didn't know too much about the whole situation. I really enjoyed hearing about this whole time period from Maria's point of view. I know that this book is a fictionalized version but it feels like there is enough truth in. the book to give you a good feel for the kind of life Maria had and what was expected of her. She was a lot braver than I would have been. And Onassis? Well he comes across as a jerk!

This book is perfect for fans of old Hollywood vibes and Maria Callas.
This book tells the story of Maria Callas and her life in the 1950’s up until she ends her relationship with Ari Onassis.
I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. There were times where I felt the book was really slow and I also have no idea how close to the real story this book is so that is why it got 4 stars from me. Other than that, I really liked this book. I had never heard of Maria Callas before and found her life story to be quite interesting. I liked the plot and the setting. I also like the main character but I didn’t really like any of the others except for Bruna. I would recommend this book to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Diva by Daisy Goodwin

Before reading this novel, I confess to knowing very little about the famous female opera singer—the diva—Maria Callas. This book weaves the story of her extraordinary voice and career, her extravagant life, and her affair with Aristotle Onassis.

I always enjoy a book where facts combine with a compelling story, and this novel did not disappoint. However, the main characters—Maria, her husband, and Ari—were difficult to relate to. It was tough to care about or empathize with them.

This was not my favorite Daisy Goodwin book, but it was an entertaining read. Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for an advance copy.

“Diva” is a historical fiction book by Daisy Goodwin. I knew a little about Maria Callas, the main character of this book, before reading this book, but a bit more than I thought I knew (if that makes sense). I knew that the affair Callas and Onassis had was electric and immediate news fodder to the newspapers and gossip columnists. I knew that both were “the most famous Greeks” and possibly could have pushed Burton and Taylor off the front page with the right story. In some ways I really liked this book - including the lovely cover. Ms. Goodwin obviously did research into this book, though I do wonder what parts were fiction or stretched for the story. I did like the parts regarding the theatre and the opera characters, as I know so little about opera (though I’m guessing if you know opera you’d find those parts a bit distracting). I did find sometimes getting people confused (it took me the longest time to realize that Maria’s husband was referred to be three names in this book - his last name, his full first name, and his abbreviated name). I did like that a number of the characters felt real - Onassis could be nasty, Maria probably was insecure but had a fiery temper, though I think other characters may have been stretched a bit. Like others, I found the ending a bit abrupt, but thinking about it, I’m not sure that it was a bad ending … there was no happy ending for Onassis and Callas, even if there became an understanding between them. I did find some of the explicit scenes uncomfortable to read, not from explicitness but from word choice, which read awkardly. Overall, I think if you know very little about Ms. Callas and Mr. Onassis you may find this an enjoyable book. For me, this is probably a 3.75 star read, rounded up to 4 stars.