[New post] Book review ~ The lives of Diamond Bessie, Jody Hadlock
Jade @ The Elder Books posted: " The Lives of Diamond BessieAuthor : Jody HadlockGenre : Historical fictionPages : 328Publisher : Spark Press Pregnant out of wedlock, sixteen-year-old Annie Moore is sent to live at a convent for fallen women. When the nuns take her baby, Anni" The Elder Books
The Lives of Diamond Bessie Author : Jody Hadlock Genre : Historical fiction Pages : 328 Publisher : Spark Press
Pregnant out of wedlock, sixteen-year-old Annie Moore is sent to live at a convent for fallen women. When the nuns take her baby, Annie escapes, determined to find a way to be reunited with her daughter. But few rights or opportunities are available to a woman in the 1860s, and after failing to find a respectable job, she resorts to prostitution in order to survive.
As a highly sought-after demi-mondaine, Annie—now Bessie—garners many expensive gifts from her admirers and eventually meets and marries the son of a wealthy jeweler, a traveling salesman with a gambling problem. With her marriage, she believes her dream of returning to proper society has finally come true. She's proven wrong when she suffers the ultimate betrayal at the hands of the man she thought would be her salvation. But Bessie doesn't let her story end there.
I'm such a fan of stories putting strong women from the past in the spotlight! It was great reading about Bessie, and the way she could mostly only rely on herself, and made choices for herself. She made such hard decisions after being pregnant out of wedlock. We share her choices, her dillemas, her broken heart, her regrets, etc. It was really impactful, I love following women's stories. I also love how prostitution in the 1800's, early 1900' is always described as a big sorority. I know it's out of necessity, but I really like the sisterhood feeling.
The fact that it's inspired from a real person always makes it even better. Of course, in the second part of the book, it can't really be truthful, but it was nice. The twist halfway kind of surprised me, I didn't expect Bessie to stay behind, and I enjoyed going with Jody Hadlock's flow. She is a woman who was wronged, and who fought with everything she could. Great inspiring story!
I only regret that the trial part was so long. It is very detailed, and I found it a little boring from time to time, which led me to skimming a bit to the end.
Still, it was a fantastic historical fiction, exactly as I love them, and I can only recommend it to everyone who loves the genre, and/or strong women stories. Such a great find on Netgalley!
That's it for today ! Thanks for reading me See you soon, Love, Jade
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