Beautiful For Ever
Madame Rachel of Bond Street - Cosmetician, Con-Artist and Blackmailer
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:3rd May '12
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
The scandalous tale of Madame Rachel - celebrated beautician to the rich and famous of Victorian London, con-artist and convicted blackmailer.
A TRUE STORY OF LIES, BEAUTY AND BLACKMAIL IN VICTORIAN LONDON
--_
Madame Rachel had everything.
A Mayfair address;
A TRUE STORY OF LIES, BEAUTY AND BLACKMAIL IN VICTORIAN LONDON
--_
Madame Rachel had everything.
A Mayfair address; the title of 'purveyor to Her Majesty the Queen'; a shop full of exotic, expensive creams and potions; and a clientele of the aristocratic, the rich - and the gullible.
Little did they suspect that Madame Rachel had once been a poor fish-fryer in a disease-ridden, grubby corner of Victorian London. Her shop in New Bond Street lured her wealthy clients in their droves, enticed by the promise of eternal beauty. What they found there was a con-woman and fraudster who made a career out of lies, treachery and the desperate hopes of women wanting to be 'beautiful for ever'.
Beautiful For Ever is a thrilling tale of love affairs, scandal, blackmail, high-profile court cases, suicide and fraud, with the extraordinary Madame Rachel right at the centre of it all.
A remarkable story... Rappaport handles her scandalous Victorian melodrama with energy and aplomb, and produces a richly entertaining portrait of the seamy side of 19th century society * Daily Mail *
Madame Rachel's story, which has been superbly researched by Rappaport, is intriguing in itself [and] sheds a fascinating light on the ladies of Victorian society * Daily Telegraph *
Beautiful For Ever is one of those un-put-downable surprises that makes reading worthwhile… This book has the same mix of forensic investigation and light touch that makes Kate Summerscale’s books so interesting * Big Issue *
Speaks volumes about vanity and Victorian attitudes to women -- Sophie Morris * Independent *
[Beautiful For Ever] is, blissfully, proof that there is still simply nothing quite like a good Victorian scandal. Rappaport excels again in this thoroughly researched account of Madame Rachel...this is a well-paced read that tells us something about the modern obsession with appearance while remaining deliciously Victorian at its core * Waterstone's Books Quarterly *
ISBN: 9780099570134
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 20mm
Weight: 235g
320 pages