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Divine Lola
Divine Lola: A True Story of Scandal and Celebrity | Cristina Morato
2 posts | 1 read | 1 to read
An enthralling biography about one of the most intriguing women of the Victorian age: the first self-invented international social celebrity. Lola Montez was one of the most celebrated and notorious women of the nineteenth century. A raven-haired Andalusian who performed her scandalous "Spider Dance" in the greatest performance halls across Europe, she dazzled and beguiled all who met her with her astonishing beauty, sexuality, and shocking disregard for propriety. But Lola was an impostor, a self-invention. Born Eliza Gilbert, the beautiful Irish wild child escaped a stifling marriage and reimagined herself as Lola the Sevillian flamenco dancer and noblewoman, choosing a life of adventure, fame, sex, and scandal rather than submitting to the strictures of her era. Lola cast her spell on the European aristocracy and the most famous intellectuals and artists of the time, including Alexandre Dumas, Franz Liszt, and George Sand, and became the obsession of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. She then set out for the New World, arriving in San Francisco at the height of the gold rush, where she lived like a pioneer and performed for rowdy miners before making her way to New York. There, her inevitable downfall was every bit as dramatic as her rise. Yet there was one final reinvention to come for the most defiant woman of the Victorian age--a woman known as a "savage beauty" who was idolized, romanticized, vilified, truly known by no one, and a century ahead of her time.
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KristiAhlers
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This was a First Reads from Amazon selection. I picked it due to the fact I‘ve been passed her house in Grass Valley, California. Grew up in the area and heard tales of her so my interest steamed from that. This was a decent read and through as far as a biography goes. She was an interesting woman.

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booksandsympathy
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First Reads pick: Lola Montez was one of the most celebrated & notorious women of the nineteenth century. A raven-haired Andalusian who performed her scandalous “Spider Dance” in the greatest performance halls across Europe, she dazzled and beguiled all who met her with her astonishing beauty. But Lola was an impostor. Born Eliza Gilbert in Ireland where she escaped a stifling marriage and became a Sevillian flamenco dancer and noblewoman.

mandarchy I picked this book too, but haven't started it yet. Did you like it? 3y
booksandsympathy @mandarchy I haven't read it yet either. IF I have time, I'll read it this month for Women in Translation month, but I have five other books I'm reading for that this month and four of them are longer books, so we'll see. I'm already a few days behind on my reading. 3y
mandarchy @booksandsympathy I share a Kindle account with my parents so I'll let you know if one of them gets to it and likes it 😉 3y
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