Goddess

YA author Gardiner makes her adult fiction debut with a humdinger of a subject: Julie d'Aubigny (1673–1707), the sword-wielding, cross-dressing, bisexual opera star of 17th-century France. Raised in the stables of Louis XIV, d'Aubigny escapes poverty and abuse by attaching herself to a variety of lovers, from the King's Master of Horse to her fencing instructor to the daughter of a nobleman. She hurtles from one adventure to another until she lands in a convent at age 33, reflecting on her life to a priest who has come to give her final absolution. While Gardiner's historical research is impressive, the characterization of d'Aubigny as a consummate actor oddly keeps the reader at a distance. She successfully reinvented herself multiple times and was driven by passion, but the deathbed confessional device makes the telling of her story seem more performative than revealing.