“Drawing on a true story, Hadlock uses authentic period detail and well-drawn characters to pull readers into Annie/Bessie’s precarious journey toward redemption, which comes to an unexpected ending. Set against the backdrop of the burgeoning women’s rights movement, The Lives of Diamond Bessie is a haunting tale of betrayal and redemption that explores whether seeking revenge is worth the price you might pay. But Bessie doesn’t let her story end there. She’s proven wrong when she suffers the ultimate betrayal at the hands of the man she thought would be her salvation. With her marriage, she believes her dream of returning to proper society has finally come true. 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.Īs 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. When the nuns take her baby, Annie escapes, determined to find a way to be reunited with her daughter. Pregnant out of wedlock, sixteen-year-old Annie Moore is sent to live at a convent for fallen women. Listen to Anthea Greco narrate the first chapter
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