“A theater darling comes into her own during a period of artistic transformation in the thrilling novel The Adored One.”

–Foreword Reviews

Join award-winning historical novelist Susanne Dunlap for the book launch and a reading from The Adored One!

Lillian Lorraine was a naive 15-year-old chorine on Broadway when she attracted the notice of the notorious 41-year-old Florenz Ziegfeld. Accustomed to getting what he wanted, Ziegfeld took Lillian under his wing and into his arms, giving her coveted numbersin the Ziegfeld Follies and taking control of her career. But Lillian's rebellious spirit chafed against him, refusing to play according to his rules, and nearly destroying her own career in the process. The Adored One follows her through rise and fall after rise and fall as she comes of age in a world where her youthful beauty was an asset—and a liability.  This novel is based on the true story of the young star who was the love of Florenz Ziegfeld’s life.

  
"Talented, beautiful, fiercely independent, flighty... there aren't enough adjectives to describe the intensely sympathetic and heartbreakingly reckless Lillian Lorraine... Buckle up; it's a wild ride. I enjoyed The Adored One immensely."  –Mitchell James Kaplan, author of Rhapsody.

"Broadway of over a hundred years ago comes vividly to life in this story of the enchanting showgirl Lillian Lorraine. You will cheer for this gorgeous survivor all the way."  –Stephanie Cowell, American Book Award winner and author of Claude & Camille and The Boy in the Rain.

Susanne Dunlap is the author more than a dozen historical novels for adults and teens. Her work has won and been nominated for many awards, including the Bank Street Books Children’s Book of the Year, the Utah Book Award, and the Missouri Gateway Readers’ Prize. Most recently, her novel The Portraitist won its category in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards, and The Paris Affair won first place in the CIBA Dante Rossetti awards for Young Adult Fiction. Susanne earned her PhD in music history from Yale, and her BA and MA (musicology) from Smith College. She lives and writes in Biddeford, Maine.