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'The scandalous Australian woman who enchanted British society
'Headstrong and beautiful, in 1905 Rosetta escaped her safe Melbourne life, deserting her respectable husband and five-year-old daughter to run away with Zeno the Magnificent, a half-Chinese fortune teller and seducer of souls.
'The pair reinvented themselves in London, where they beguiled European society and risked everything for a life of glamour and desire. Rosetta said she was American; Zeno claimed to be a brilliant Japanese professor. Together they attracted the patronage of famous writers, inventors and scientists, lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses. Empress Eugenie, the widow of Napoleon III, and Princess Charlotte, sister of Germany's last Kaiser, were among their greatest devotees.
'Rosetta revelled in a life few women of her time would have dared to embrace, yet all the while she hid her secret shame: the daughter she had left behind.
'This is the compelling story of Alexandra Joel's quest to uncover the truth about her scandalous great-grandmother, and the shocking century-old secret she would discover at the heart of her family.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also large print.
Works about this Work
-
What Big Fantasies You Had, Great-Grandma
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20-21 August 2016; (p. 26)
— Review of Rosetta : A Scandalous True Story 2016 single work biography -
Review : Rosetta, A Scandalous True Story
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal , vol. 22 no. 4 2016; (p. 710-711)
— Review of Rosetta : A Scandalous True Story 2016 single work biography -
Fluid and Fake Identities in Early Australia
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 9 July 2016; (p. 18)
— Review of Rosetta : A Scandalous True Story 2016 single work biography '... With the publication of Rosetta: A Scandalous True Story, Rosetta Raphael joins the chorus of young colonial women who thrived as a consequence of identity alteration. Written by her great granddaughter, Alexandra Joel, this fictionalised biography begins in Melbourne in 1899, with the marriage between 18-year-old virgin Rosetta and her respectable older beau, Louis. ...' -
Book Review – Rosetta, A Scandalous True Story by Alexandra
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Booklover Book Reviews 2016;
— Review of Rosetta : A Scandalous True Story 2016 single work biography
-
Book Review – Rosetta, A Scandalous True Story by Alexandra
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Booklover Book Reviews 2016;
— Review of Rosetta : A Scandalous True Story 2016 single work biography -
Fluid and Fake Identities in Early Australia
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 9 July 2016; (p. 18)
— Review of Rosetta : A Scandalous True Story 2016 single work biography '... With the publication of Rosetta: A Scandalous True Story, Rosetta Raphael joins the chorus of young colonial women who thrived as a consequence of identity alteration. Written by her great granddaughter, Alexandra Joel, this fictionalised biography begins in Melbourne in 1899, with the marriage between 18-year-old virgin Rosetta and her respectable older beau, Louis. ...' -
Review : Rosetta, A Scandalous True Story
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal , vol. 22 no. 4 2016; (p. 710-711)
— Review of Rosetta : A Scandalous True Story 2016 single work biography -
What Big Fantasies You Had, Great-Grandma
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20-21 August 2016; (p. 26)
— Review of Rosetta : A Scandalous True Story 2016 single work biography
