For something different, I have picked up a work of non-fiction.
I enjoy well written history, but don’t read it very often, fiction junky that I am.
“The Courtesans” is a brief description of the lives of 12 “major” courtesans of 19th century France, including Blanche d’Antigny, La barucci, Cora Pearl, Esther Guimond, La Paiva (Therese Lachmann), Mademoiselle Maximum (Leonide Leblanc), Margauerite Bellanger, Caroline Letessier, Alice Ozy, La Dame aux Camelias (Marie Duplessis, La Presidente (Apollonie Sabatier) and Mogador (Celeste Venard).
I enjoyed the book and discovered much I did not know about 19th Century France – indeed it became evident I was mostly ignorant of that period, so I shall have to find a good history of that period.
My major problems were both its briefness – it glossed very lightly over each – and its assumptions, as it expected the reader to know a great deal about the personalities.
A good introduction to the period.
