Nellie

Reviews / Votes

In this highly readable biography of Nellie Melba...Robert 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 -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail * Jolly gossipy reading, easily digested * The Telegraph * Wainwright's delightfully revisionist biography of Dame Nellie Melba rescues her from fusty Victorianisms to analyse her struggles and resilience to overcome misogyny and social expectation in becoming one of history's greatest opera singers. * Waterstones.com * [A] rounded portrait...the Melba that emerges is not only a prodigious talent but a trailblazing, fiercely independent and determined woman. * Sydney Morning Herald * Most people know the outlines of the career of the legendary nineteenth-century diva Nellie Melba, but this biography offers new insights. What Melba went through to become the toast of the musical world is almost unbelievable to our twenty-first century eyes and how she handled it makes for remarkable
reading -- Judging panel for the 2022 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award (longlisted title) Wainwright has a reporter's eye for the telling detail, and an ear for good copy...a racy tale, and briskly told. * The Australian, on NELLIE * A gem of a biography. * The Lady, on ENID * My jaw kept dropping as I devoured Robert Wainwright's wonderfully racy biography, full of comedy and tragedy and populated by some of the most dissolute and eccentric aristocrats of the 20th century. -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail, on ENID * Enid's story is dazzling and uplifting, and she certainly lived up to her code: "Never be afraid, never be jealous, and never complain when you are ill." -- Christopher Silvester * Spears, on ENID * As social history Sheila Chisholm's life is fascinating... it's undeniably enjoyable to read of all that glitter and gold. -- Selina Hastings * Spectator, on SHEILA *