Greetings readers, I am Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, an American singer. Or was. I did perish in 1876, but here I am being called back from eternity and the land of the ancestors to grace you all with my presence.
I was asked to give my opinion about a book that’s been written about me, called THE UNEXPECTED DIVA, by an author named Tiffany L. Warren. I’m told it’s in a category called historical fiction, which leaves me a bit befuddled, because I certainly am not fictitious. So, that is my first thought. This diva is real, and with a three-octave voice, what about me should have ever been unexpected?
Perhaps the individuals responsible for selecting book titles were alluding to the fact that no American Black woman had ever gone on a singing tour before me. That is true. I toured all over North America and even Canada. The free states, of course. I wasn’t going south to put on a concert.
I am pleased at the gifted beauties that have followed in my footsteps, Marian Anderson, Leontyne Pryce, Beyoncé, Cynthia Erivo, and I am especially fond of a buxom songstress named Madelyn Brené. I claim them all. Every fearless Black woman that graces the stage and opens herself to well-meaning and mean-spirited critiques—they are all my progeny. My daughters.
But back to this book. This historical fiction. I believe the author did a fabulous job crafting this story. I was indeed in a pickle when Mrs. Elizabeth H. Greenfield, my adopted mother, died and my inheritance was contested.
There were very few options available to me in the 1850s. I could have married a widower, been a nanny, cook, or maid. Or worse, and I think this is the thing that frightened me most, I might’ve been captured and enslaved on a plantation. I started my life on one and thank God I never had to endure any horrors.
But tell me, why on earth would I subject myself to any of these things when my soprano could shatter glass, and my baritone made critics think there was trickery at play? No one ever told Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale to be a maid. And she could only sing two-and-a-half-octaves. What do the young people say now? No shade? But…shade.
At any rate, the preposterous nickname, The Black Swan, fashioned after my fairer-skinned counterpart, Jenny Lind, followed me my entire career. When I was in the United Kingdom, I tried to break free of it with the help of my friend Harriet Beecher Stowe. When I was in concert there, we submitted announcements to the press that said, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, An American Singer. And do you know they added The Black Swan anyway? I just decided to accept it, as I am Black (even though swans are not), and I am beautiful, graceful, and one-of-a-kind.
In this novel, Tiffany L. Warren takes readers on the adventures I had on tour with charlatan managers, white male protestors, and oftentimes shady reviewers. My favorite part of the novel is my moment with Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. That was a fond memory.
This author is very creative with her storytelling. She looks behind the scenes, and…under the covers…with a handsome accompanist named Charles. We did not speak of such things in my time, but I suppose in two thousand and twenty-five, readers like to gobble up these little salacious tidbits. Thank goodness, I am gone on to glory.
You should read THE UNEXPECTED DIVA, because it is about me, and I just cannot believe more people haven’t heard of me. Just make sure, when you mention me in your tea parties and book discussions, you call me…Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, An American Singer.
You’re going to call me The Black Swan, aren’t you? So be it.
Before the Civil War, Black opera singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield reigned supreme on Northern stages—even performing at Buckingham Palace. Novelist Tiffany L Warren brings this remarkable but forgotten diva’s remarkable story to life for modern readers.
Born into slavery on a Mississippi plantation, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield has been raised in the safety of Philadelphia’s Quaker community by a wealthy adoptive mother. Sheltered and educated, Eliza’s happy childhood always included music lessons to nurture her unique gift: a glorious three octave singing voice that leaves listeners in awe. But on the eve of her twenty-fourth birthday, young Eliza’s world is thrown into a tailspin when her mother dies.
Eliza’s inheritance is contested by her mother’s white cousins, leaving her few options. She can marry her longtime beau, Lucien, though she has no desire to be a wife and mother. Or she can work as a tutor for rich families. Her mother’s dying wish was for Eliza to pursue her talent and become a professional singer, but that grand vision now seems out of reach.
When a chance performance on a steamboat to Buffalo, New York, leads to a surprising opportunity, fearless Eliza seizes her moment. Within a year she is touring America, singing to packed houses, and igniting controversy wherever she goes. In a country captivated by “the Swedish Nightingale” Jenny Lind, Eliza is billed by tour promoters as “the Black Swan.” An unlikely diva, Eliza is tall, dark-skinned, and robust of figure compared to the petite European prima donna, but even the harshest critics can’t deny Eliza’s extraordinary gift. Menaced by racist crowds, threatened by slave-catchers who kidnap free Black people, Eliza lives a public life full of risk, but one which also holds the promise of great riches, and the freedoms those buy.
From the churches of Philadelphia to Queen Victoria’s salon in Buckingham Palace, Eliza Greenfield will blaze her own path—with a voice that no listener will ever forget.
Women's Fiction Historical [William Morrow Paperbacks, On Sale: January 7, 2025, Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9780063322134 / eISBN: 9780063322141]
I'm happily married with five beautiful children. I have a technology degree (yeah, I'm a nerd) and I worked for about 8 years in the IT department of a bank. I started writing when I was fourteen, but the publishing world is still new to me. I'm very happy to have a chance to pursue my dreams!
No comments posted.
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy