Marlene

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From the cabarets of Weimar Berlin to the dazzling film studios of Hollywood's golden age, an enthralling novel of a glamorous legend Maria Magdalena Dietrich was born for a life on the stage. Raised in genteel poverty after the First World War, the willful teenager vows to become an actress and singer, trading her family's proper, middle-class society for the free-spirited decadence of Weimar Berlin's cabarets and drag balls. With her sultry beauty, smoky voice, and androgynous tailored suits, Marlene performs to packed houses--and becomes entangled in a series of stormy love affairs that push the boundaries of social convention--until she finds overnight success in her breakthrough film role as the cabaret singer Lola-Lola in The Blue Angel.

For Marlene, neither fame nor marriage and motherhood can cure her wanderlust. As Hitler rises to power, she sets sail for America. Her image as an erotic temptress captures worldwide attention, and she becomes one of Hollywood's top leading ladies, starring in one high-profile film--and affair--after another. Though Hitler tries to lure her back to Germany, Marlene chooses instead to become a citizen of her new nation, even as America enters the war against her fatherland.

But one day, she must return to Germany, escorted by General George Patton himself. In the devastated cities and the concentration camps, she comes face-to-face with how the evils of fascism transformed her country, and the family she thought she knew.

Lushly descriptive, as alluring as the lady herself, Marlene reveals the inner life of a woman of grit, glamour, and ambition who defied convention, seduced the world, and forged a path on her own terms.

Praise for Mademoiselle Chanel

"In this deliciously satisfying novel, C. W. Gortner tells the epic rags-to-riches story of how this brilliant, mercurial, self-created woman became a legend."--CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE, New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

"Well-written and historically accurate. . . . An homage to a couture icon whose influence is still powerful today."--Kirkus Reviews

"Sucked me in by the pearls and never let go. Gortner's imagining of the ultimate fashion icon is equal parts grit and glamour, painting a portrait of a woman who was hugely inspiring but by no means perfect. Oh, and if you can't afford to visit Paris in peak springtime season, reading this book with a glass of wine is a decent substitute."--Glamour

"Enticing. . . . Well-researched and well-crafted historical novel that leaves the reader satisfied on many levels."--New York Journal of Books

"Gortner brings to life a woman who was as alluring and captivating as her signature scent."--RT Book Reviews

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Gortner's ninth novel (after Mademoiselle Chanel) explores the world of an extraordinary woman who lived during a tumultuous time. Berlin-born Maria Magdalene Dietrich was meant to be a classical violinist, making her status-conscious yet financially challenged mother proud. Maria had other ideas, rejecting her family's middle-class values to seek a career on the stage. The story of how Marlene Dietrich became one of the biggest stars in Hollywood spans two world wars and follows her from the decadent cabarets of Berlin to the back lots of Paramount Studios to war-torn Europe. Her independence, outspokenness, and unconventional attitudes toward marriage and sexuality didn't always make this journey an easy one. The author doesn't idolize his main character, exposing her failings as a parent, wife, and friend, which results in a well-balanced portrait. Verdict This fictionalized biography is filled with appearances by many well-known characters of the time, including Greta Garbo, Gen. George Patton, and Ernest Hemingway, and reveals much about a unique, enigmatic movie star. Fans of the films of the 1930s and 1940s will find much to enjoy here.-Terry Lucas, Shelter Island P.L., NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Gortner, the author of Mademoiselle Chanel (2015), provides a fictional biography of yet another iconic twentieth-century female. From the racy, ribald cabarets of Weimer-era Berlin to the glitz and glamour of golden-era Hollywood, the beguilingly androgynous and fiercely passionate Marlene Dietrich, born Maria Magdalena Dietrich into a respectable middle-class family, fairly leaps off every page. The first-person voice lends an air of intimacy and immediacy to the narration, as Marlene relates her metamorphosis from a repressed German violin student into a sexually liberated international film star. Divided loyalties plague Dietrich her entire life. Torn between two countries, she chooses the U.S. when Germany descends into madness; torn between her child and her profession, she opts to put her burgeoning career first. Though her choices always exact a price, she lives her life bravely and passionately, raising a multitude of hackles and disapproving eyebrows along the way. Cinematic in both scope and story, this sweeping reconception of the professionally and personally captivating Dietrich will appeal to both film buffs and fans of historical fiction.--Flanagan, Margaret Copyright 2016 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

International movie star Marlene Dietrich relates her eventful story in a first-person fictional account. Maria Magdalene Dietrich, known as Marlene, was born to a distinguished but threadbare family in turn-of-the-20th-century Berlin, where her hardworking widowed mother instilled in her the motto Tu etwasdo something. This work ethic and constant struggle against insolvency in a defeated Germany propels young Marlene to a music conservatory, where, upon learning that she will never be a top-notch violinist, she promptly seduces her instructor, beginning a lifelong journey of balancing her middling talent with her overwhelming sexual charisma. Set loose in the cabaret world of the Weimar Republic, Marlene works her way up from the chorus to bit parts in the burgeoning German film world, marries a promising director, and then meets Josef von Sternberg, who makes her a star and takes her to Hollywood. Author Gortner (The Vatican Princess, 2015, etc.) skillfully evokes the cross-dressing, sexually fluid atmosphere of the seedy nightclubs that helped Marlene define her unique appeal; the scenes are lively and authentic, though overpopulated. When Marlene moves to Hollywood, the story becomes a litany of loversGary Cooper, Mercedes de Acosta, and Jean Gabinand interchangeable films in which Marlene plays a chanteuse or spy while coping with numerous domestic problems that are raised but never fully examined. It's only when Bette Davis badgers Marlene into joining the USO that the novel finds its heart. The scenes of Marlene entertaining the troops and visiting hospitals in Europe during the second world war are well-detailed and truly moving. An ambitious but occasionally overbroad account of the life of the German-American star whose life spanned continents, wars, and nearly an entire century. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.