Jody Hadlock

The Lovely Bones meets the Wild, Wild West in this haunting tale of betrayal, revenge, and redemption inspired by the true story of a much-sought-after nineteenth-century prostitute who longs to return to respectable society--but instead endures the ultimate betrayal.

The Lives of Diamond Bessie

Caroline

The lives of Diamond Bessie is a inspired true story of Annie Moore also known as Diamond Bessie, who was pregnant out of wedlock at sixteen year of age and was sent to a convent for fallen women. When her daughter is taken away from her by the nun's, Annie is forced to escape and make a life for herself, so she can reunite with her daughter. But due to less job opportunities given to women in the 1860's Annie is forced into prostitution to survive with a dream to live a respectable life with her daughter one day. 

The lives of Diamond bessie is a well written book by debutant author Jody Hadlock and one can relate to it easily as it is a story that one must have heard and read before because I strongly believe that such stories even exist today. This is a well researched book and the author has tried to keep the story as real as possible. 

I believe that one should go into reading this book blind to enjoy it to its fullest as I never saw the twist coming. Though the second half of the book is all the more interesting than the first half as I really liked how the author continued to tell the story through Bessie eyes rather than through a third person. This was sure hard to put down and kept me hooked till the end. I will surely recommend this book and I would also love to see this book made into a movie in the near future.

Thanks to Netgalley, sparkpress and author Jody Hadlock for the ARC.

Madhuri Sridhara

This book can be clearly divided into two halves and while I enjoyed reading the first half, I thought the second half was a bit of a drag.

Annie, a teenager who gets pregnant out of wedlock in the 1800s and is shunned by her family is someone I couldn't stop reading/thinking about. Her transformation into a prostitute with strong opinions on the women's' movement and her independence despite her circumstances will make you cheer for her. 

But although the research is well done and the author has tried her best to stick to the accuracy of the real Bessie's story, the writing falls flat in the second half. I found myself reading just so it would be over.

I am highly impressed by the author's research and with Annie/Bessie story. I will not only be on the lookout for her work but will definitely try to read more historical fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sparkpress for the advanced e-copy of the book. 

3.5/5

The Lives of Diamond Bessie

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