Download or read book My Notorious Life written by Kate Manning and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-06-06 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'In the end, they celebrated. They bragged. They got me finally, was their feeling. They said I would take my secrets to the grave. They should be so lucky.' Defiant and daring, Axie Muldoon claws her way from the streets up to the dizzying heights of New York society. But as her fame grows and her name hits the headlines, her reputation as the most scandalous midwife of her time begins to threaten everything she holds dear. And one crusading official will not rest until he has brought about the downfall of 'Madame X'. It will take all of Axie's cunning to save both herself and those she loves from ruin...
Download or read book My Notorious Life by Madame X written by Kate Manning and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'In the end, they celebrated. They bragged.They got me finally, was their feeling.They said I would take my secrets to the grave.They should be so lucky.'Axie Muldoon, the headstrong daughter of Irish immigrants, forced to beg for pennies as a child on the brutal streets on New York City, grows up to become the most successful - and controversial - midwife of her time.'Saved' from poverty by a well-meaning philanthropist, Axie is sent West with her younger brother and sister. But the kindness of strangers is short-lived and soon Axie returns to the city of her birth, alone, but determined to one day reunite her family.When she is taken in by a Manhattan doctor Axie learns the craft that she will live by - and later fight for. She rises from the gutter to the glitter of Fifth Avenue high society, and discovers that the right way is not always the way of the church or the law, and that you should never trust a man who says 'trust me.' But what if that man is an irresistible risk-taker with a poetical Irish soul?As Axie's reputation grows she finds herself on a collision course with the crusading official who would be the righteous instrument of her downfall. It will take all of her power to outwit him and save both herself and those she loves from ruin.
Download or read book I Am Madame X written by Gioia Diliberto and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-03-18 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intriguing and absorbing novel about the life of Virginie Gautreau, the subject of John Singer Sargent's most famous portrait Madame X, which scandalized the 1884 Paris Salon—perfect for fans of the bestselling Girl with a Pearl Earring. When John Singer Sargent unveiled Madame X—his famous portrait of twenty-three-year-old American beauty Virginie Gautreau—at the 1884 Paris Salon, its subject's bold pose, bare shoulders, and provocative dress shocked the public and the critics, who found the portrait displaying Virginie's blatant sexuality bizarre, artificial, and unwholesome. The scandal destroyed Sargent's dreams of a career in Paris, forcing him to flee to England. In this remarkable novel, Gioia Diliberto imagines Virginie's side of the story, drawing on the few known historical facts to re-create Virginie's tempestuous personality and the captivating milieu of nineteenth-century Paris. Born in New Orleans and raised on a lush plantation, Virginie fled to France during the Civil War, where she was absorbed into the fascinating and wealthy world of grand ballrooms, dressmakers' salons, and artists' ateliers. Even before Sargent painted her portrait, Virginie's reputation for promiscuity and showy self-display made her the subject of vicious Paris gossip. Immersing the reader in Belle Epoque Paris, I Am Madame X is a compulsively readable and richly imagined novel illuminating the struggle between Virginie and Sargent over the outcome of a painting that changed their lives and affected the course of art history.
Download or read book ArtCurious written by Jennifer Dasal and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wildly entertaining and surprisingly educational dive into art history as you've never seen it before, from the host of the beloved ArtCurious podcast We're all familiar with the works of Claude Monet, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous reproductions of his water lilies on umbrellas, handbags, scarves, and dorm-room posters. But did you also know that Monet and his cohort were trailblazing rebels whose works were originally deemed unbelievably ugly and vulgar? And while you probably know the tale of Vincent van Gogh's suicide, you may not be aware that there's pretty compelling evidence that the artist didn't die by his own hand but was accidentally killed--or even murdered. Or how about the fact that one of Andy Warhol's most enduring legacies involves Caroline Kennedy's moldy birthday cake and a collection of toenail clippings? ArtCurious is a colorful look at the world of art history, revealing some of the strangest, funniest, and most fascinating stories behind the world's great artists and masterpieces. Through these and other incredible, weird, and wonderful tales, ArtCurious presents an engaging look at why art history is, and continues to be, a riveting and relevant world to explore.
Download or read book Strapless written by Deborah Davis and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-05-03 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The subject of John Singer Sargent's most famous painting was twenty-three-year-old New Orleans Creole Virginie Gautreau, who moved to Paris and quickly became the "it girl" of her day. A relative unknown at the time, Sargent won the commission to paint her; the two must have recognized in each other a like-minded hunger for fame. Unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, Gautreau's portrait generated the attention she craved-but it led to infamy rather than stardom. Sargent had painted one strap of Gautreau's dress dangling from her shoulder, suggesting either the prelude to or the aftermath of sex. Her reputation irreparably damaged, Gautreau retired from public life, destroying all the mirrors in her home. Drawing on documents from private collections and other previously unexamined materials, and featuring a cast of characters including Oscar Wilde and Richard Wagner, Strapless is a tale of art and celebrity, obsession and betrayal.
Download or read book Madam 90210 written by Alex Adams and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Spymistress written by Jennifer Chiaverini and published by Dutton. This book was released on 2014-03-25 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pledging her loyalty to the North at the risk of her life when her native Virginia secedes, Quaker-educated aristocrat Elizabeth Van Lew uses her innate skills for gathering military intelligence to help construct the Richmond underground and orchestrate escapes from the infamous Confederate Libby Prison.
Download or read book Madam written by Libbie Hawker and published by Running Rabbit Press. This book was released on with total page 599 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A city on the verge of collapse. A woman ahead of her time. Seattle, 1888. Economic ruin and dangerous riots have stripped this once-booming city of its former glories, leaving a near-empty husk. The town is ripe for reinvention, if any person has the guts - and the capital - to make Seattle their own. Miss Lou Graham, recently arrived from San Francisco, intends to rebuild Seattle from the ground up. She has ample wealth, wits, and courage to take on the powerful Reformers, the political party that have ushered Seattle to the brink of disaster. But when she meets Amber, the tempestuous “fallen woman” who captures her heart, Lou must choose between love and her dreams of success. A lady rescuing the city is scandalous enough; will anyone in Seattle deign to work with a lady who loves other women? As Lou struggles to revive the city and to confront her own desires, she is joined by new friends, each facing trials of their own. Jiayi still suffers from the aftermath of the anti-Chinese riots, which stranded her in Seattle two years before. Emerson must hide his past infamy from his well-bred fiancée. Lauretta, haunted by a tragic loss, embarks on an ill-advised quest to adopt a neglected child. And Amber, Lou Graham's secret love, strives to break her addiction to laudanum before the court takes her daughter away. When an unfathomable disaster strikes Seattle, neither Lou nor her friends can hide any longer. Deception and shame will be burned away, leaving truth to rise from the ashes. With the scope of a Michener novel and an unforgettable cast of characters, Libbie Hawker returns to historic Seattle, the setting of her best-seller Mercer Girls, finalist for the 2017 Willa Award.
Download or read book Madam in Silk written by and published by . This book was released on 2019-07 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Vera written by Carol Edgarian and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author Carol Edgarian delivers “an all-encompassing and enthralling” (Oprah Daily) novel featuring an unforgettable heroine coming of age in the aftermath of catastrophe, and her quest for love and reinvention. Meet Vera Johnson, fifteen-year-old illegitimate daughter of Rose, notorious proprietor of San Francisco’s most legendary bordello. Vera has grown up straddling two worlds—the madam’s alluring sphere, replete with tickets to the opera, surly henchmen, and scant morality, and the quiet domestic life of the family paid to raise her. On the morning of the great quake, Vera’s worlds collide. As the city burns and looters vie with the injured, orphaned, and starving, Vera and her guileless sister, Pie, are cast adrift. Disregarding societal norms and prejudices, Vera begins to imagine a new kind of life. She collaborates with Tan, her former rival, and forges an unlikely family of survivors, navigating through the disaster together. “A character-driven novel about family, power, and loyalty, (San Francisco Chronicle), Vera brings to life legendary characters—tenor Enrico Caruso, indicted mayor Eugene Schmitz and boss Abe Ruef, tabloid celebrity Alma Spreckels. This “brilliantly conceived and beautifully realized” (Booklist, starred review) tale of improbable outcomes and alliances takes hold from the first page, with remarkable scenes of devastation, renewal, and joy. Vera celebrates the audacious fortitude of its young heroine, who discovers an unexpected strength in unprecedented times.
Download or read book Mary Coin written by Marisa Silver and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-02-25 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bestselling author Marisa Silver takes Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother photograph as inspiration for a story of two women—one famous and one forgotten—and their remarkable chance encounter. In 1936, a young mother resting by the side of the road in central California is spontaneously photographed by a woman documenting migrant laborers in search of work. Few personal details are exchanged and neither woman has any way of knowing that they have produced one of the most iconic images of the Great Depression. In present day, Walker Dodge, a professor of cultural history, stumbles upon a family secret embedded in the now-famous picture. In luminous prose, Silver creates an extraordinary tale from a brief event in history and its repercussions throughout the decades that follow—a reminder that a great photograph captures the essence of a moment yet only scratches the surface of a life.
Download or read book Eight Girls Taking Pictures written by Whitney Otto and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of "How to Make an American Quilt" comes a powerful tale inspired by the lives of famous 20th-century female photographers tracing the progression of feminism and photography in various world regions.
Download or read book Madame Jeanne Guyon written by Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte Guyon and published by Bridge Logos Foundation. This book was released on 2002-03 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains two timeless classics on inner prayer and experiencing God from the woman who "loved Christ too much": Experiencing Union with God through Inner Prayer and The Way and Results of that Union. In a time when her church focused on external works, Madame Jeanne Guyon looked into the heart of the matter and found that it's the prayers of the soul that God desires. For daring to teach this to the mass of people "who knew not God in their hearts," she was once imprisoned by her own church leaders for seven years--four of those years in the notorious Bastille in Paris, France.
Download or read book Whitegirl written by Kate Manning and published by Delta. This book was released on 2011-07-06 with total page 523 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I was not always a white girl. I used to be just Charlotte. A person named Charlotte Halsey. But when I met Milo, when I fell in love with him, I became White, like a lit light bulb is white. In the mirror there is my skin the color of sand, hair the color of butter, eyes blue as seawater. Just so bleachy white I am practically clear. Milo is black, what they call “Black,” only not to me. To me he has mostly been just Milo. They say lovers can find each other just by using the sense of smell; that we are all really animals in that way, no different from dogs or deer. I know it’s true. I could find Milo blind in a room of men, the smell of him like pine trees in a snowy wind. I could pick him out just by the slow rising of his breath while he slept. So no, until this happened, up to the time of the assault, he was not black, not to me. He was Milo. He was my husband. – from Whitegirl As Kate Manning’s riveting debut novel begins, a thirty-five-year-old white woman lies secluded in her home overlooking the Pacific, unable to speak, recovering from a violent assault that has nearly taken her life. Her husband, a famous black actor, is in jail for the crime. Is he guilty? She’s not sure. She remembers nothing of the assault. Longing for answers, she sifts through the history of their life together, trying to determine how two people once so in love might find themselves so ruined. Charlotte Halsey and Milo Robicheaux met briefly in college in the 1970s, where she was a beautiful, troubled girl hungry for freedom, and he was the star athlete with Olympic dreams. Years later, when she is a successful model and he a famous sports hero turned actor, their paths cross again in New York City and they fall in love. But their marriage is soon fraught with tension. As Milo’s celebrity skyrockets, motherhood ends Charlotte’s career, leaving her increasingly alienated from the man she believed she knew so well. Jealousy and mistrust grow between them even as they strive to build a life together against increasing odds. A poignant anatomy of a marriage undone by the pressure of fame and the struggle for identity, Whitegirl is the arresting debut of a significant new voice in contemporary fiction.
Download or read book My Life written by Isadora Duncan and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unquestionably brave, creative, and erudite, the free spirit Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) captivated the American, European, and Soviet cultural scenes with her innovative modern dance and un-self-conscious lifestyle.
Download or read book This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage written by Ann Patchett and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'So compellingly personal you feel you're looking over her shoulder as she sits down to write' New York Times 'Electrically entertaining ... Funny, generous, spirited and kind' The Times This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is an irresistible blend of literature and memoir revealing the big experiences and little moments that shaped Ann Patchett as a daughter, wife, friend and writer. Here, Ann Patchett shares entertaining and moving stories about her tumultuous childhood, her painful early divorce, the excitement of selling her first book, driving a Winnebago from Montana to Yellowstone Park, her joyous discovery of opera, scaling a six-foot wall in order to join the Los Angeles Police Department, the gradual loss of her beloved grandmother, starting her own bookshop in Nashville, her love for her very special dog and, of course, her eventual happy marriage. This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is a memoir both wide ranging and deeply personal, overflowing with close observation and emotional wisdom, told with wit, honesty and irresistible warmth.
Download or read book Negative Space written by Lilly Dancyger and published by Santa Fe Writers Project. This book was released on 2021-05-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite her parents' struggles with addiction, Lilly Dancyger always thought of her childhood as a happy one. But what happens when a journalist interrogates her own rosy memories to reveal the instability around the edges? Dancyger's father, Joe Schactman, was part of the iconic 1980s East Village art scene. He created provocative sculptures out of found materials like animal bones, human hair, and broken glass, and brought his young daughter into his gritty, iconoclastic world. She idolized him—despite the escalating heroin addiction that sometimes overshadowed his creative passion. When Schactman died suddenly, just as Dancyger was entering adolescence, she went into her own self-destructive spiral, raging against a world that had taken her father away. As an adult, Dancyger began to question the mythology she'd created about her father—the brilliant artist, struck down in his prime. Using his sculptures, paintings, and prints as a guide, Dancyger sought out the characters from his world who could help her decode the language of her father's work to find the truth of who he really was.
