La Belle Creole: The Cuban Countess who Captivated Havana, Madrid and Paris Author: Alina Garcia-Lapuerta Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, History Publisher: Chicago Review Press Release Date: September 1, 2014 Pages: 320 Source: Netgalley/publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: The adventurous woman nicknamed La Belle Creole is brought to life in this book through the full use of her memoirs, contemporary accounts, and her intimate letters. The fascinating Maria de las Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo, also known as Mercedes, and later the Comtesse Merlin, was a Cuban-born aristocrat who was years ahead of her time as a writer, a socialite, a salon host, and a participant in the Cuban slavery debate. Raised in Cuba and shipped off to live with her socialite mother in Spain at the age of 13, Mercedes triumphed over the political chaos that blanketed Europe in the Napoleonic days, by charming aristocrats from all sides with her exotic beauty and singing voice. She m...
Happy Blogiversary, Lauralee!!
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