Jerilee bonner biography samples

Citation preview

Dedication TO CECIL

Epigraph In a twisted way, she resembles the skier or the mountain climber. One imagines her asking, “Will I make it again this time?” —DR. WILLIAM A. FROSCH

Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Epigraph Introduction: Charming The Glitterati Jeanne de Saint-Rémy Cassie Chadwick Wang Ti The Seers The Spiritualists Fu Futtam Rose Marks The Fabulists The Anastasias Roxie Ann Rice The Tragediennes Bonny Lee Bakley The Drifters Lauretta J. Williams Margaret Lydia Burton Sante Kimes Conclusion: Confident Acknowledgments Notes About the Author Also by Tori Telfer Copyright About the Publisher

Introduction

Charming In , the New York Daily News published an article about a beautiful young con woman named Barbara St. James. (At least, that was one of her names.) “If you meet her, you will like her,” ran the article. “She will draw out your life story, your troubles and triumphs. She appears wealthy, a woman of substance and class. She drips with sincerity.” Appears was the second-most important word in the paragraph, but the first was like. You will like her. Beautiful Barbara’s life story has long been forgotten, but that line could be used to describe almost every con woman before and after her. If you meet her, you will like her. The con woman’s likability is the single most important tool she has, sharp as a chef’s knife and fake as a theater mask. Without her likability, she would be nothing. If you like her—and you will like her—then her work will be so much easier. It’ll all be over quickly. You’ll hardly feel a thing. The fact that we like con artists so much is probably the greatest con of all time. How did they pull it off, these criminals, creating a world in which we call them “confidence artists” while other criminals get unembroidered titles like “thief” and “drug dealer”? Why do we call their crimes “playing confiden

***

Have you ever wondered what might have happened if William the Conqueror had been beaten at Hastings in ? Or if Harald Hardrada had won at Stamford Bridge? Or if Ed-ward the Confessor had died with an heir ready to take his crown? If so – here is the perfect set of short stories for you.

Turned Upside Down explores a variety of ways in which that momentous year could have played out very differently.

Written by nine well-known authors the stories will take you on a journey through the specu-lative ‘what ifs?’ of England’s most famous year in history.

***

***

Extract

THE NEEDLE CAN MEND

by Eliza Redgold

One of the most famous relics of the 11th century is the Bayeux Tapestry. It is called a tapestry, but in fact it is an embroidery. It is nearly 70 metres (ft) long, and 50 centimetres (20in) in height, and comprises of fifty scenes stitched on linen with coloured woollen yarns. It is kept, now, in a museum near Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy, where Odo, Duke William’s half-brother, was bishop. Some say it was Odo who commanded the Tapestry made, perhaps it was, perhaps it wasn’t. We don’t know. At initial glance it seems to tell a straightforward story of the events that led to the Norman Conquest, and the Battle itself. But there is so much we do not understand: why the little figures in the upper and lower borders? Who were the few people named – Turold, the dwarf, and the woman, Alfgyva? Annoyingly, the makers did not include explanatory footnotes. The Tapestry is a beautiful thing, even today its colours are bright and vibrant. It has survived wars and fires, and the skill that went into making it is as wondrous to us now, as it must have been back then, at some time soon after October The women who stitched it – for there was more than one hand responsible for its creation – put more than just thread into those scenes. There is sadness, loyalty, and love stitched there. But who designed it? Whose was the mind behind the Tapest