I just can't seem to get away from the Victorian era! Currently doing research on Lizzie Borden for my upcoming Naughty Women Lovely Tea presentation. But during my 'spare time' I keep hacking away at the stack of books on my night stand. The top three are all Victorian era stories. Here are two. After I finish the third one, the next book up is set in the 1920s... I think. I'll let you know... Not sure my brain can imagine wardrobes without corsets.
Written as if it were an autobiography, this cleverly created novel was an absolute adventure! Phillip Margulies has spun a rich, detailed world as beautiful as it is cruel. Loosely based on a real-life 19th century madam. I would be honored to have tea with Arabella Godwin-Moody/Harriet Knowles/Belle Cora. (Wow! One heck of a place card!)
Where Phillips Margulies took the seed of a real life person (Belle Cora) and grew it into a fantastic fictional story, Steven Levingston had all the cold hard facts of a real life drama and fleshed it out with some imaginative details and completely believable narrative. Truth really is stranger than life! In 1889, young and petite Gabrielle Bompard hardly looked the part of a cold-blooded murderess but the evidence was hard to dispute. Her defense angle? She claimed she was innocent because she was hypnotized to do it!
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