The Queen of Tuesday

A Lucille Ball Story

By: Darin Strauss

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert, Darin Strauss

Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Lucille Ball, Hollywood’s first true media mogul, stars in this “bold” (The Boston Globe), “boisterous novel” (The New Yorker) with a thrilling love story at its heart — from the award-winning, bestselling author of Chang & Eng and Half a Life

A Washington Post Best Book of the Year • “A gorgeous, Technicolor take on America in the middle of the twentieth century.” (Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Nickel Boys)

This indelible romance begins with a daring conceit — that the author’s grandfather may have had an affair with Lucille Ball. Strauss offers a fresh view of a celebrity America loved more than any other. 

Lucille Ball — the most powerful woman in the history of Hollywood — was part of America’s first high-profile interracial marriage. She owned more movie sets than did any movie studio. She more or less single-handedly created the modern TV business. And yet Lucille’s off-camera life was in disarray. While acting out a happy marriage for millions, she suffered in private. Her partner couldn’t stay faithful. She struggled to balance her fame with the demands of being a mother, a creative genius, an entrepreneur, and, most of all, a symbol.

The Queen of Tuesday — Strauss’s follow-up to Half a Life, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award — mixes fact and fiction, memoir and novel, to imagine the provocative story of a woman we thought we knew.

©2020 Darin Strauss (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A delight.”—The New York Times Book Review

“‘Half memoir and half make-believe,’ this boisterous novel relates an imagined affair between Lucille Ball . . . and the author’s grandfather. . . . A touching account of the sacrifices that Lucille makes to preserve her ‘most genuine’ relationship: the one ‘between her and the public.’”—The New Yorker

“An impossibly daring premise for a novel—an act of almost Lucy-level audaciousness! . . . exceptionally well told . . . [Darin] Strauss conjures up those heady days . . . with such vibrancy it’s impossible not to hope that everything might work out after all. . . . Brilliant.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post

Slow story

I had a very hard time getting through this. I think the writer is an good writer, I just didn’t like the story. I should have realized it was fiction prior to starting it.
Narration got to be a bit much, almost too much, overacting etc.

An unsatisfying read

Lifelong fan of Lucille Ball here and of historical fiction - this novel is terrible. There are some well written, unique descriptions and thoughts that were particularly effective. However, it seems like the author lacked knowledge about these people and their specific flawed characters and, rather than researching, made it up based on perception.

This should have been its own trashy romance novel. Roping famous names into it and pretending it’s historical fiction gives that genre a bad name, and is a disingenuous marketing tactic. I was extremely disappointed in the quality of the writing/research and the lack of true-to-the-time verbiage, thought processes, and settings. This is a great idea, executed poorly, under a cute title.

waste of my time

struggled to finish. I didn't care for this fiction version portrayal. I would not recommend

Awful fiction

All characters are real but entire story is made up. The people in this book are too contemporary to take and write a completely fictitious story. Storylines jump a lot between characters and timelines. Hard to stay engaged. Do not recommend.

Tired story about failed marriage and unhappiness

In full disclosure I haven’t finished…because it’s boring and sad, and I can’t take any more. I had hoped to encounter an enjoyable story in which I learned tidbits about LBs life and the times she lived in. While there are elements of that, the backdrop and constant theme is unhappy marriages and disappointments.

Refund Please

i really did not lile listening to this narrator. both her voice and her tone were annoying.