The Biographer’s Club
Through incisive enquiry and astute observation, Catherine Hewitt traces the courtesan’s flight from squalor to splendour, her prose sparkling in the light of her luminous subject.
France Magazine
a fascinating biography …Full of detail and astute observation, the book is a remarkable tale of a woman who never stopped aiming high, but whose personal life was shrouded in…
All About History
it is incredibly readable. The story itself is innately fascinating…Hewitt has a great deal of knowledge on the time period of 19th-century Paris…much to enjoy in this engaging account of…
The Bookbag
this proves to be both a full and intriguing biography, and a fascinating portrait of the time period… The Mistress of Paris is not just a biography of a fascinating woman, but…
Living France
Her lovers included painters and politicians, and she caused plenty of scandal that will have you curled up with this book for hours.
Good Reads
…the research is thorough, and the author has a very straight-forward writing style. Hewitt takes us through from rags to riches, birth to death, whilst reminding us of key historical…
The Observer
….this is an enthralling story, told with both conviction and sympathy.
The Saturday Telegraph
…Hewitt is a diligent researcher and her handsomely illustrated debut biography is crammed with period detail…she offers an intriguing insight into the precarious glamour of life as a 19th-century courtesan.