NELLIE: The Life and Loves of a Diva

'Wainwright tells the story of the girl with the incredible voice who, by sheer force of her personality and power of her decibels, took the operatic world by storm and managed to escape from her violent husband.' - Daily Mail. This delightfully revisionist biography of Dame Nellie Melba rescues her from fusty Victorianism to analyse her struggles and resilience to overcome misogyny and social expectations and becoming one of history's greatest opera singers. Nellie Melba is remembered as a squarish, late middle-aged woman dressed in furs and large hats, an imperious Dame whose voice ruled the world for three decades and inspired a peach and raspberry dessert. She battled misogyny and perhaps would have preferred she stay a housewife in outback Queensland Australia rather than parade herself on stage. But she endured the violence of a bad marriage, was denied by scandal a true love with the would-be King of France, and suffered for more than a decade the loss of her only son - stolen by his angry, vengeful father. Despite these obstacles, Nellie built and maintained a career as an opera singer and businesswoman on three continents which made her one of the first international superstars. Award-winning biographer Wainwright presents a very different portrait of this great diva which celebrates both her musical contributions and her rich and colourful personal life. Includes many pictures including Nellie on her way to London in 1919 to reopen Covent Garden Opera House. 344pp.