THE LUMINOUS LIFE OF LILLY APHRODITE
by Beatrice Colin
John Murray/Paperback/404 pages
$30.79 before GST from major bookstores / *** 1/2

The Luminous Life Of Lilly Aphrodite (titled The Glimmer Palace in the American edition) initially seems like the usual rags-to-riches tale, in this case, that of a fictional orphan girl turned movie star in early 20th century Berlin.

However, this work of historical fiction also traces the development of the German film industry - once one of the largest and most innovative in the world - and examines how such celluloid fantasy served as a welcome, even necessary, escape from a grim reality.

Most impressively, the novel aims to convey the ethos of Berlin during one of the city's most vibrant, desperate and tragic times - the first quarter of the 20th century, after the city was brought to its knees by Germany's defeat in World War I, before its spirit was broken by the rise of the Nazis.

The story's heroine, Lilly, is conceived in the back row of a cinema and born in the last seconds of the 19th century. She is swiftly orphaned when her cabaret dancer mother, caught in bed with her philosophy student lover, is shot and killed by Lilly's aristocratic Bavarian father, who is subsequently dispatched by the dying student.

Winding up in an orphanage, she absorbs a fair amount of Catholic morality while sneaking out late at night with Hanne, her older and more experienced friend, to sell roses in bars.

This semi-sheltered life does not last and Lilly's brutal entry into the adult world coincides with Germany's entry into World War I, a debilitating endeavour which would eventually see the nation humiliated and bankrupt.

The effect of war on ordinary Berliners is illustrated in an awful scene in which a horse collapses in the middle of the street: 'No sooner had the horse's head hit the cobbles than a dozen women appeared from doorways and alleyways armed with knives and bowls and cups. They... began to butcher the carcass, sawing through bone and slicing through veins to let the spurt of warm blood flow into their bowls.'

Like the city, which soon becomes home to sex clubs and cutting-edge cinema, Lilly must adapt in order to survive. The novel describes the different choices she and Hanne make without passing judgment, though in the end conventional morality prevails as it is the more innocent Lilly who is discovered by a sensitive Russian director and turned into a film star.

The plot, though absorbing, is also slow-moving. Still, the narrative is peppered with references to events to come, giving all that occurs a sad, fatalistic tinge.

For example, fleeting moments of lust felt between men and women are followed by an insight into how precious these memories would one day be: 'And... months later as they shivered in a trench, those men and boys convinced themselves that they would have given her all their worldly goods in exchange for another kiss.'

Strangely, it is when Lilly becomes a movie star that the story loses its lustre. After deftly guiding readers through her turbulent emotions for so long, the author is somehow unable to convincingly portray Lilly's inner life once the character gains a modicum of security and status.

The abrupt ending, while managing to pack an emotional punch, feels incomplete, ending the book just when Lilly's character seems on the verge of an epiphany.

That aside, this novel is a richly rendered journey through a city at its most decadent and glamorous. As much a portrait of a place as it is of a person, it presents slices of life as a series of radiant images, flickering amidst the ever-encroaching darkness.

If you like this, read: Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (US$5.95 or S$8.50 from amazon.com) A young woman leaves her rural home for the bright lights of Chicago and New York City, going against conventional morality to live her dream.

This article was first published in The Sunday Times on Sep 21, 2008.