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The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret
The Mistress of Paris The 19thCentury Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret Author:Catherine Hewitt [Read by Sarah Nichols] — A fantastic biography of a nineteenth-century Parisian courtesan who harbored an incredible secret. — Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne was painted by Edouard Manet and inspired Emile Zola, who immortalized her in his scandalous novel Nana. Her rumored affairs with Napoleon III and the future King Edward VII kept gossip colum... more »ns full.
But her glamorous existence hid a dark secret: she was no comtesse. She was born into abject poverty, raised on a squalid backstreet among the dregs of Parisian society. Yet she transformed herself into an enchantress who possessed a small fortune, three mansions, fabulous carriages, and art the envy of connoisseurs across Europe. A consummate show-woman, she ensured that her life -- and even her death -- remained shrouded in just enough mystery to keep her audience hungry for more.
Spectacularly evoking the sights and sounds of mid- to late nineteenth-century Paris in all its hedonistic glory, Catherine Hewitt's biography tells, for the first time ever in English, the forgotten story of a remarkable woman who, though her roots were lowly, never stopped aiming high.« less