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Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist
by Jennifer Wright**Longlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize in Nonfiction (2023)** **An Amazon EDITOR'S PICK for BEST BOOKS OF 2023 SO FAR in BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR and HISTORY** **An Amazon EDITOR'S PICK for BEST BOOKS OF THE MONTH (March 2023)** **A Bookshop.Org EDITOR'S PICK (March 2023)** &“This is the story of one of the boldest women in American history: self-made millionaire, a celebrity in her era, a woman beloved by her patients and despised by the men who wanted to control them.&” An industrious immigrant who built her business from the ground up, Madame Restell was a self-taught surgeon on the cutting edge of healthcare in pre-Gilded Age New York, and her bustling &“boarding house&” provided birth control, abortions, and medical assistance to thousands of women—rich and poor alike. As her practice expanded, her notoriety swelled, and Restell established her-self as a prime target for tabloids, threats, and lawsuits galore. But far from fading into the background, she defiantly flaunted her wealth, parading across the city in designer clothes, expensive jewelry, and bejeweled carriages, rubbing her success in the faces of the many politicians, publishers, fellow physicians, and religious figures determined to bring her down. Unfortunately for Madame Restell, her rise to the top of her field coincided with &“the greatest scam you&’ve never heard about&”—the campaign to curtail women&’s power by restricting their access to both healthcare and careers of their own. Powerful, secular men—threatened by women&’s burgeoning independence—were eager to declare abortion sinful, a position endorsed by newly-minted male MDs who longed to edge out their feminine competition and turn medicine into a standardized, male-only practice. By unraveling the misogynistic and misleading lies that put women&’s lives in jeopardy, Wright simultaneously restores Restell to her rightful place in history and obliterates the faulty reasoning underlying the very foundation of what has since been dubbed the &“pro-life&” movement. Thought-provoking, character-driven, boldly written, and feminist as hell, Madame Restell is required reading for anyone and everyone who believes that when it comes to women&’s rights, women&’s bodies, and women&’s history, women should have the last word.
Madame Récamier: The Biography of a Flirt
by Henry Dwight SedgwickFirst published in 1940, this is a biography of Jeanne-Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier (1777-1849), a French socialite whose salon drew Parisians from the leading literary and political circles of the early 19th century.Known as Juliette, she was the wife of a Parisian banker 30 years her senior and one of the most prominent women of her time. Beautiful, accomplished, and with a love of literature, Juliette was shy and modest by nature. From the earliest days of the French Consulate to almost the end of the July Monarchy, her salon in Paris was one of the chief resorts of literary and political society that followed what was fashionable. The habitués of her house included many former royalists and others, such as Bernadotte (later Charles XIV of Sweden and Norway) and Gen. Jean Moreau, who were opposed to the government of Napoleon.In 1805 Napoleon’s policies caused her husband major financial losses, and in the same year Napoleon ordered her exiled from Paris. She stayed with her good friend Mme de Staël, one of Napoleon I’s principal opponents, in Geneva and then went to Rome (1813) and Naples, where she was on exceedingly good terms with Gen. Joachim Murat and his wife Caroline Bonaparte, who were then intriguing with the Bourbons.Following Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815 she returned to Paris, where despite her reduced circumstances after 1819 she maintained her salon and continued to receive visitors at the L’Abbaye-aux-Bois, a 17th-century convent, in which she took a separate suite and to which she retired in 1819.“To be beloved was the history of Mme Récamier. Beloved by all in her youth, for her astonishing beauty—beloved for her gentleness, her inexhaustible kindness, for the charm of a character which was reflected in her sweet face—beloved by young and old…such will be the renown of this charming woman!”—MADAME DE HAUTEFEUILLE
Madame Saqui: Revolutionary Rope Dancer
by Lisa RobinsonA stunning picture book biography about the tightrope walker who dazzled Paris as she danced across the sky with impeccable balance and unparalleled skill during the French Revolution.In revolutionary France, a girl named Marguerite Lalanne longed to perform above large crowds on a tightrope, just like her acrobatic parents. Sneaking off to the fairgrounds for secret tightrope walking lessons, Marguerite finessed her performance skills, ultimately performing for crowds as a young rope dancer. And eventually, Marguerite would perform as Madame Saqui, waltzing and pirouetting across- and never falling off- countless ropes above adoring crowds. A nouvelle chérie de Paris, Madame Saqui cemented her place in circus history, winning the adoration of the French people and royalty alike, including Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. This remarkable biography unveils the inspiring story of a trailblazing woman who revolutionized the circus world-- without ever missing a step.
Madame Serpent: A Catherine de Medici (Catherine de Medici, Book #1)
by Jean PlaidyFourteen-year-old Catherine de' Medici arrives in Marseilles to marry Henry, Duke of Orleans, second son of the King of France. The brokenhearted Catherine has left her true love in Italy, forced into trading her future happiness for marriage into the French royal family. Amid the glittering fêtes and banquets of the most immoral court in sixteenth-century Europe, the reluctant bride becomes a passionate but unwanted wife. Humiliated and unloved, Catherine spies on Henry and his lover, the infamous Diane de Poitiers. Tortured by what she sees, Catherine becomes consumed by a ruthless ambition destined to make her the most despised woman in France: the dream that one day the French crown will be worn by a Medici heir. . . .
Madame Tussaud
by Michelle MoranWhen Marie moves from her family's waxwork museum into the palace of Versailles, her whole life is set to change... When Marie Tussaud learns the exciting news the royal family will be visiting her famed wax museum, the Salon de Cire, she never dreams that the king's sister will request her presence at Versailles: as a royal tutor in wax sculpting. As Marie familiarizes herself with Princess Elisabeth and begins to know Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, she witnesses the glamorous life of court, a very different world from her home on the Boulevard du Temple of Paris where bread can only be had on the black market and men sell their teeth to put food on the their tables. The year is 1788 and men like Desmoulins, Marat, and Robespierre are meeting in the salons of Paris speaking against the monarchy; there's whispered talk of revolution. Spanning five years from budding revolution to the Reign of Terror, Madame Tussaud brings us into the world of an incredible heroine whose talent for wax moulding saved her life and preserved the faces of a vanished kingdom. (P)2011 WF Howes Ltd
Madame Tussaud's Apprentice
by Kathleen Benner DubleIn 1789, with the starving French people on the brink of revolution, orphaned Celie Rosseau, an amazing artist and a very clever thief, runs wild with her protector, Algernon, trying to join the idealistic freedom fighters of Paris. But when she is caught stealing from none other than the king's brother and the lady from the waxworks, Celie must use her drawing talent to buy her own freedom or die for her crimes. Forced to work for Madame Tussaud inside the opulent walls that surround Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Celie is shocked to find that the very people she imagined to be monsters actually treat her with kindness. But the thunder of revolution still rolls outside the gates, and Celie is torn between the cause of the poor and the safety of the rich. When the moment of truth arrives, will she turn on Madame Tussaud or betray the boy she loves? From the hidden garrets of the starving poor to the jeweled halls of Versailles, Madame Tussaud's Apprentice is a sweeping story of danger, intrigue, and young love, set against one of the most dramatic moments in history.
Madame Tussaud's Apprentice: An Untold Story of Love in the French Revolution
by Kathleen Benner DubleIn 1789, with the starving French people on the brink of revolution, orphaned Celie Rosseau, an amazing artist and a very clever thief, runs wild with her protector, Algernon, trying to join the idealistic freedom fighters of Paris. But when she is caught stealing from none other than the king's brother and the lady from the waxworks, Celie must use her drawing talent to buy her own freedom or die for her crimes. Forced to work for Madame Tussaud inside the opulent walls that surround Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Celie is shocked to find that the very people she imagined to be monsters actually treat her with kindness. But the thunder of revolution still rolls outside the gates, and Celie is torn between the cause of the poor and the safety of the rich. When the moment of truth arrives, will she turn on Madame Tussaud or betray the boy she loves? From the hidden garrets of the starving poor to the jeweled halls of Versailles, Madame Tussaud's Apprentice is a sweeping story of danger, intrigue, and young love, set against one of the most dramatic moments in history.
Madame Tussaud's Apprentice: An Untold Story of Love in the French Revolution
by Kathleen Benner DubleIn 1789, with the starving French people on the brink of revolution, orphaned Celie Rosseau, an amazing artist and a very clever thief, runs wild with her protector, Algernon, trying to join the idealistic freedom fighters of Paris. But when she is caught stealing from none other than the king's brother and the lady from the waxworks, Celie must use her drawing talent to buy her own freedom or die for her crimes. Forced to work for Madame Tussaud inside the opulent walls that surround Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Celie is shocked to find that the very people she imagined to be monsters actually treat her with kindness. But the thunder of revolution still rolls outside the gates, and Celie is torn between the cause of the poor and the safety of the rich. When the moment of truth arrives, will she turn on Madame Tussaud or betray the boy she loves? From the hidden garrets of the starving poor to the jeweled halls of Versailles, Madame Tussaud's Apprentice is a sweeping story of danger, intrigue, and young love, set against one of the most dramatic moments in history.
Madame Tussaud: A Life in Wax
by Kate BerridgeKate Berridge’s Madame Tussaud: A Life in Wax “celebrates a great pioneer of mass-market illusion, whose illusions eventually included herself.”*Millions have visited the museums that bear her name, yet few know much about Madame Tussaud. A celebrated artist, she had both a ringside seat at and a cameo role in the French Revolution. A victim and survivor of one of the most tumultuous times in history, this intelligent, pragmatic businesswoman has also had an indelible impact on contemporary culture, planting the seed of our obsession with celebrity.Kate Berridge tells this fascinating woman’s complete story for the first time, drawing upon a wealth of sources, including Tussaud’s memoirs and historical archives. It is a grand-scale success story, revealing how with sheer graft and grit a woman born in 1761 to an eighteen-year-old cook overcame extraordinary reversals of fortune to build the first and most enduring worldwide brand identified simply by reference to its founder’s name: Madame Tussaud’s.“A good story, like Berridge’s biography, is a blessing.” —Miami Herald“A rousing good read . . . [Berridge] presents us with a thorough understanding of the beginnings of popular culture.” —Vancouver Sun“Fascinating. . . . A vividly recreated history of an extreme time and the unusually determined woman who capitalized so effectively on it.” —Globe and Mail“Spectacular and spellbinding. . . . Thoughtful, original, never condescending, erudite, and packed with vivid and sometimes horrifying detail, it is a model of how cultural history should be written.” —*Sunday Times (London)
Madame Tussaud: A Novel Of The French Revolution
by Michelle MoranParis, 1788.Marie is a young woman in love with her oldest friend and neighbour, Henri. But she is also a determined businesswoman, eager to see her family's waxwork museum keep them safe and solvent. Her gift for modelling faces in wax brings her to Versailles, where she must teach the king's sister her skill. But the coming revolution will place Marie, her family and all of Paris in grave danger. As the monarchy is overthrown and the guillotine becomes a fixture in French life, Marie is expected to show her patriotism by making death masks from the severed heads of every key figure killed as the Reign of Terror begins and France enters its darkest time. How will Marie survive the Revolution? Who will survive it with her? And just how will this girl come to be known as the woman behind one of the most famous museums in the world?
Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution (Bride Series)
by Michelle MoranThe world knows Madame Tussaud as a wax artist extraordinaire, but who was this woman who became one of the most famous sculptresses of all time? From the internationally bestselling author of Nefertiti comes a &“rollicking drama&” (Good Housekeeping) that is &“intimate and entertaining&” (Associated Press). &“Both a gripping, fictionalized biography of an intriguing woman and a well-paced, illuminating chronicle of the French Revolution.&”—New York Journal of Books Smart and ambitious, Marie Tussaud has learned the secrets of wax sculpting by working alongside her uncle in their celebrated wax museum, the Salon de Cire. From her popular model of the American ambassador, Thomas Jefferson, to her tableau of the royal family at dinner, Marie&’s museum provides Parisians with the very latest news on fashion, gossip, and even politics. Her customers hail from every walk of life, yet her greatest dream is to attract the attention of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI; their stamp of approval on her work could catapult her and her museum to the fame and riches she desires. Though many people are starving and can no longer afford bread, Marie&’s business is booming. In salons and cafés across Paris, people like Maximilien Robespierre are lashing out against the monarchy. Soon, there&’s whispered talk of revolution. Spanning five years, from the budding revolution to the Reign of Terror, Madame Tussaud brings us into the world of an incredible heroine whose talent for wax modeling saved her life and preserved the faces of a vanished kingdom.
Madame Tussaud: Her Life and Legacy
by Geri WaltonA &“meticulously researched and deftly written biography&” of the woman behind the famed wax museums, and their origins in the era of the French Revolution (Midwest Book Review). Madame Marie Tussaud is known worldwide for the chain of wax museums she started over two hundred years ago. Less known is that her original wax models were often of the famous and infamous people she personally knew during and after the French Revolution. These were people like Voltaire, Robespierre, and Napoleon—people who changed the world. Even more, the wax figures were depicted in scenes drawn from the horrors she experienced during the reign of terror in Paris during her early adult years. This book shows how the traumatic and cataclysmic experiences of Madame Tussaud&’s early life became part of her legacy. She created a succession of scenes in wax, telling events as she personally experienced them. Her wax sculptures were visceral. She made them herself, at times from the living person&’s head and at other times from the recently guillotined head of a former houseguest. As a result, people were drawn to her wax displays because they were the most intense way of experiencing those events themselves. This is the story not only of a unique artist, but of how one of history&’s bloodiest events influenced her life and work.
Madame Vieux Carre: The French Quarter in the Twentieth Century
by Scott S. EllisCelebrated in media and myth, New Orleans's French Quarter (Vieux Carré) was the original settlement of what became the city of New Orleans. In Madame Vieux Carré, Scott S. Ellis presents the social and political history of this famous district as it evolved from 1900 through the beginning of the twenty-first century. From the immigrants of the 1910s, to the preservationists of the 1930s, to the nightclub workers and owners of the 1950s and the urban revivalists of the 1990s, Madame Vieux Carré examines the many different people who have called the Quarter home, who have defined its character, and who have fought to keep it from being overwhelmed by tourism's neon and kitsch. The old French village took on different roles—bastion of the French Creoles, Italian immigrant slum, honky-tonk enclave, literary incubator, working-class community, and tourist playground. The Quarter has been a place of refuge for various groups before they became mainstream Americans. Although the Vieux Carré has been marketed as a free-wheeling, boozy tourist concept, it exists on many levels for many groups, some with competing agendas. Madame Vieux Carré looks, with unromanticized frankness, at these groups, their intentions, and the future of the South's most historic and famous neighborhood. The author, a former Quarter resident, combines five years of research, personal experience, and unique interviews to weave an eminently readable history of one of America's favorite neighborhoods.
Madame Walker Theatre Center: An Indianapolis Treasure (Images of America)
by A'Lelia BundlesAs they watched construction of the block-long flatiron building brick by brick throughout 1927, African American residents of Indianapolis could scarcely contain their pride. This new headquarters of the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, with its terra-cotta trimmed facade, was to be more than corporate offices and a factory for what then was one of America's most successful black businesses. In fact, it was designed as "a city within a city," with an African Art Deco theater, ballroom, restaurant, drugstore, beauty salon, beauty school, and medical offices. Generations of African American families met for Sunday dinner at the Coffee Pot, enjoyed first-run movies and live performances in the Walker Theatre, and hosted dances in the Casino. Today, this National Historic Landmark is an arts center anchoring the Indiana Avenue Cultural District.
Madame X
by Alexandre Bisson J. W. McConaughyA tragic story of infidelity, murder, and a mother’s love in turn-of-the-century France. When Jacqueline Floriot’s husband, Louis, finds her in the arms of another man, she and her lover flee the house. Two years later, Jacqueline returns, hoping to reunite with her young son, Raymond. But Louis, overcome with jealous rage, sends her out into the cold of winter without so much as a glimpse of her child. His merciless act sets off a tragic chain of events as Jacqueline sinks into a life of depravity, drugs, and prostitution. Twenty years later, Raymond is a lawyer, working alongside his father. When he finds himself representing a woman accused of murder, a woman known only as Madame X, he has no way of knowing that he defends his own mother—or that she may have committed her alleged crime out of love for her son. Based on Alexandre Bisson’s 1908 play of the same name, J. W. McConaughy’s novel brilliantly depicts a harrowing tale. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
Madame de Lafayette
by Constance WrightConstance Wright, whose Silver Collar Boy and A Chance for Glory have won her critical acclaim and a devoted audience here and abroad, has now written a fascinating biography of a patriot’s wife, Madame de Lafayette. With its delicate rendering of a woman’s emotion and a nation’s mood, this book will long be cherished both as a poignant narrative and as an unerring picture of a departed world.Adrienne de Noailles married the handsome Marquis de Lafayette in 1774, when she was fourteen and he but two years older. The marriage had been arranged by her parents, and neither the bride nor bridegroom could be said to have been in love. Yet in 1781, when Lafayette returned from fighting in the American Revolution, she was prepared to risk her life on his behalf.Adrienne’s deep love for Lafayette, and her spiritual devotion to the Church, sustained her during the dark days of the French Revolution and its nightmarish Reign of Terror. Lafayette, who had to flee Paris for his life, was arrested outside France. Then, “with streetwalkers and nuns, pickpockets and duchesses,” Adrienne was confined in a Paris prison. When she finally won her release, after several years of unimaginable horror, she sought and gained permission to live with her husband in his squalid Austrian cell.Constance Wright has drawn an inspiring portrait of a woman whose extraordinary faith places her among the true heroines of history.“This life story, with its background of the French revolutions, the harsh life of the titled captives, the horrors of the executions and the long, frustrating efforts to be free, is one of selfless dedication and pure motives that has a quiet glow.”—Kirkus Review
Madame de Pompadour
by Nancy Mitford Amanda ForemanWhen Madame de Pompadour became the mistress of Louis XV, no one expected her to retain his affections for long. A member of the bourgeoisie rather than an aristocrat, she was physically too cold for the carnal Bourbon king, and had so many enemies that she could not travel publicly without risking a pelting of mud and stones. History has loved her little better. Nancy Mitford's delightfully candid biography re-creates the spirit of eighteenth-century Versailles with its love of pleasure and treachery. We learn that the Queen was a "bore," the Dauphin a "prig," and see France increasingly overcome with class conflict. With a fiction writer's felicity, Mitford restores the royal mistress and celebrates her as a survivor, unsurpassed in "the art of living," who reigned as the most powerful woman in France for nearly twenty years.
Madame de Pompadour: The Making of a Mistress
by Nichole DapeloAt the tender age of ve, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was told by a fortune-teller that she would one day reign over the heart of the King. Since that moment, her entire existence became dedicated to preparing for what she considered her destiny. In this historical- ction novel that is heavily based on historical documentation, Madame de Pompadour recounts the education and experiences of her youth that led to her relationship with Louis XV, and the social and political restrictions that she overcame both as a bourgeois in Paris and later in Versailles. Despite the intrigues and betrayals of the courtiers who despised having a commoner ful ll the of cial Court title of mistress to the King of France, her relentless love and devotion served to maintain Madame de Pompadour as the of cial favorite of Louis XV for twenty years, during which time she became one of the most powerful and in uential political gures and patron of the arts in all of France.
Madame's Deception
by Renee BernardWhen an innocent takes over a bordello, can her seduction be far behind? Jocelyn Tolliver believes that her mother's couture business financed her European boarding school education. Imagine her shock when she discovers that her dying mother is the infamous Madame of London's elite Crimson Belle. Promising to care for the bordello and its ladies, Jocelyn, a virginal bookworm, transforms herself and is soon known as the reclusive Madame DeBourcier. Rakish Alex Randall, Lord Colwick, is determined to win admittance to the intriguing Madame's bed. His outrageous attempts to garner her favor cannot go unnoticed for long. . . . When danger threatens the elegant women of the Belle, Jocelyn strikes a bargain with Alex, hoping he can provide some protection. But Jocelyn's deception forces her and Alex into a passionate battle of wills in which all illusions will be shattered . . . and all desires fulfilled.
Madams: Bawds and Brothel-Keepers of London
by Fergus LinnaneAt a time when there were almost no career opening for women, a group of intrepid and gifted females scaled the heights of what was literally a man's world - they became brothelkeepers, or 'bawds', Mother Clap - women bawds were often known as Mother - ran male brothels, or Molly Houses. Elizabeth Holland had an immense moated mansion built on Bankside and for 30 years entertained the aristocracy, including royalty. When troops attempted to stop her trade and eject her from the house, she and her girls drove them off. The Georgian bawd Charlotte Hayes held a 'Cyprian Fete' at which gentlemen "of the highest breeding" first watched athletic young men copulating with nubile whores and then joined in themselves. Fergus Linnane reveals the other side of London's years of pomp and splendour, painting a vivid picture of the bawds, their girls, and their clients. Madams is fresh and original, offering humour, insight, and a very candid view of the sexual behaviour of Londoners through the ages.
Madan Mohan: An Enchanting Saga
by Sushant BhartiConservation Architect and Researcher Sushant Bharti highlights the significance of the Madan Mohan, an ancient and important temple in Vrindavan, India that has had a prominent impact both locally and globally throughout its history. The text includes a captivating portrayal of the temple both at home and in the Indian diaspora, a tribute to the attractive, ever enchanting nature of the structure and its spiritual potency.The establishment of Gaudiya Vaishnavas in the Braj region catalysed a novel movement centered around the devotion to Radha and Krishna. This movement, in turn, spurred construction of the Madan Mohan, one of the most significant and prominent temples in the area during the Mughal reign. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, each temple emerged as a distinct exemple of Mughal artistry, showcasing a seamless integration of diverse architectural components and novel experimentation. The Madan Mohan temple stands as a remarkable testament to the confluence of social, economic, and political forces that transcended regional boundaries during the zenith of Mughal dominance.
Madcap May: Mistress of Myth, Men, and Hope
by Richard KurinMay Yohe was a popular entertainer from humble American origins who married and then abandoned a wealthy English Lord who owned the fabled Hope diamond--one of the most valuable objects in the world and now exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. May was a romantic who had numerous lovers and at least three husbands--though the tabloids rumored twelve. One included the playboy son of the Mayor of New York. May separated from him--twice--and cared for her next husband, a South African war hero and invalid whom she later shot.Crossing the paths of Ethel Barrymore, Boris Karloff, Oscar Hammerstein, Teddy Roosevelt, Consuelo Vanderbilt, and the Prince of Wales, May Yohe was a foul-mouthed, sweet-voiced showgirl who drew both the praise and rebuke of Nobel laureate George Bernard Shaw. Nicknamed "Madcap May," she was a favorite of the press. In later years she faced several maternity claims and a law suit which she won. She was hospitalized in an insane asylum and escaped. She ran a rubber plantation in Singapore, a hotel in New Hampshire, and a chicken farm in Los Angeles. When all else failed, she washed floors in a Seattle shipyard, and during the Depression held a job as a government clerk. Shortly before her death, she fought, successfully, to regain her lost U.S. citizenship.How was this woman, May Yohe, able to charm her way to international repute, live an impossible life, and also find the strength to persevere in light of the losses she suffered--in wealth, citizenship, love, and sanity? Madcap May, assembled from her writings and historical interviews, archival records, newspaper stories, scrapbooks, photographs, playbills, theatrical reviews, souvenirs, and silent film, tells her heretofore lost story.
Maddalena and the Dark: A Novel
by Julia Fine“[A] beguiling fairy tale.” —Vanity Fair (A Best Book of Summer)“Enchanted...A slow-burn gothic novel that will make you lose track of your surroundings…An atmospheric banger.” —LitHubVenice, 1717. Fifteen-year-old Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. As a student at the Ospedale della Pietà, she hopes to join the highest ranks of its illustrious girls’ orchestra and become a protégé of the great Antonio Vivaldi. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena. After a scandal threatens her noble family’s reputation, Maddalena is sent to the Pietà to preserve her marriage prospects. When she meets Luisa, Maddalena feels the stirrings of a friendship unlike anything she has known. But Maddalena has a secret: she has hatched a dangerous plot to rescue her future her own way. When she invites Luisa into her plans, promising to make her dreams come true, Luisa doesn’t hesitate. But every wager has its price, and as the girls are drawn into the decadent world outside the Pietà’s walls, they must decide what it is they truly want—and what they will do to pay for it. Lush and heady, swirling with music and magic, Maddalena and the Dark is a Venetian fairytale about the friendship between two girls and the boundless desire that will set them free, if it doesn’t consume them first.
Maddalena and the Dark: A sweeping gothic fairytale about a dark magic that rumbles beneath the waters of Venice
by Julia FineA gothic, Venetian fairytale about the fierce bond between two teenage girls at an 18th century music school, and the fateful bargains they make with a dark magic in the waters of Venice.A darkness takes shape beneath the waters of Venice . . . and somewhere in the Ospedale della Pietà, there are two girls breathing beside each other, legs entwined.Maddalena and the Dark is an opulent and sensuous Venetian fairytale, full of music, magic, passion, and betrayal. Perfect for fans of The Binding and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.************************Venice, 1717. Before Maddalena arrived at the Ospedale della Pietà, Venice's most illustrious music school, fifteen-year-old orphan Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena. Sent to the Pietà until her noble family can find her a husband, Maddalena is cunning, passionate, and unlike anyone Luisa has ever met. Maddalena can promise the world to Luisa, and when she does, their fates intertwine.But Maddalena has made a dangerous wager and, for both girls, there will be an unimaginable price to pay.'Fine beguiles with this decadent tale of desire . . . With the alluring Venice backdrop, this will frighten and captivate in equal measure' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review'Maddalena and the Dark is chocolate laced with poison. To read it is to fall under an enchantment . . . A sweeping, dark fairy tale about the violent hearts of teenage girls' KATIE GUTIERREZ'A sumptuous feast of a novel, rich and strange and heady. Julia Fine is an extraordinary writer' KELLY LINK'From its first sentence, this novel curled its crooked little witch's finger around my heart and still hasn't let go' AMY JO BURNS'A tense, slow-burning portrait of how desire too easily tangles with envy and the price we pay when we get what we want' ISLE McELROY'An ecstatic, immersive, layered and astonishingly rendered depiction of girlhood, ambition, violence, art, and desire' LYNN STEGER STRONG'Beautiful, suspenseful, sensuous, real. If you love music or Venice, or if you've ever simply been a young girl aching for womanhood, this is the book for you. Reading this felt like indulging in a secret, in the best way' AJA GABEL'Maddalena and the Dark is the book of my dreams - a feverish, intimate story of obsession and ambition, set in Venice's shadowy canals and glittering palazzos' SARA SLIGAR(P) 2023 Headline Publishing Group Ltd
Maddalena and the Dark: A sweeping gothic fairytale about a dark magic that rumbles beneath the waters of Venice
by Julia FineA darkness takes shape beneath the waters of Venice . . . and somewhere in the Ospedale della Pietà, there are two girls breathing beside each other, legs entwined.'Enchanting and suspenseful' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Rich and heartbreaking' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'A lush, decadent fairytale' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐Maddalena and the Dark is an opulent and sensuous Venetian fairytale, full of music, magic, passion, and betrayal, perfect for fans of The Last Tale of the Flower Bride and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.'Fine beguiles with this decadent tale of desire . . . With the alluring Venice backdrop, this will frighten and captivate in equal measure' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review************************Venice, 1717. Before Maddalena arrived at the Ospedale della Pietà, Venice's most illustrious music school, fifteen-year-old orphan Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena. Sent to the Pietà until her noble family can find her a husband, Maddalena is cunning, passionate, and unlike anyone Luisa has ever met. Maddalena can promise the world to Luisa, and when she does, their fates intertwine.But Maddalena has made a dangerous wager and, for both girls, there will be an unimaginable price to pay.'Maddalena and the Dark is chocolate laced with poison. To read it is to fall under an enchantment . . . A sweeping, dark fairy tale about the violent hearts of teenage girls' KATIE GUTIERREZ'A sumptuous feast of a novel, rich and strange and heady. Julia Fine is an extraordinary writer' KELLY LINK'From its first sentence, this novel curled its crooked little witch's finger around my heart and still hasn't let go' AMY JO BURNS'A tense, slow-burning portrait of how desire too easily tangles with envy and the price we pay when we get what we want' ISLE McELROY'An ecstatic, immersive, layered and astonishingly rendered depiction of girlhood, ambition, violence, art, and desire' LYNN STEGER STRONG'Beautiful, suspenseful, sensuous, real. If you love music or Venice, or if you've ever simply been a young girl aching for womanhood, this is the book for you. Reading this felt like indulging in a secret, in the best way' AJA GABEL'Maddalena and the Dark is the book of my dreams - a feverish, intimate story of obsession and ambition, set in Venice's shadowy canals and glittering palazzos' SARA SLIGAR