Gioia Diliberto Books In Order

I Am Madame X

When John Singer Sargent unveiled Madame X his famous portrait of American beauty Virginie Gautreau at the 1884 Paris Salon, its subject’s bold pose and provocative dress shocked the public and the critics, smashing Sargent’s dreams of a Paris career. In this remarkable novel, Gioia Diliberto tells Virginie’s story, drawing on the sketchy historical facts to re create Virginie’s tempestuous personality and the captivating milieu of nineteenth century Paris. Born in New Orleans and raised on a lush plantation, Virginie fled to France during the Civil War, where she was absorbed into the fascinating and wealthy world of grand ballrooms, dressmakers’ salons, and artists’ ateliers. Even before Sargent painted her portrait, Virginie’s reputation for promiscuity and showy self display made her the subject of vicious Paris gossip. Immersing the reader in Belle Epoque Paris, I Am Madame X is a compulsively readable and richly imagined novel illuminating the struggle between Virginie and Sargent over the outcome of a painting that changed their lives and affected the course of art history.

The Collection

Isabelle Varlet, charming and na ve, comes from a long line of seamstresses in a small town in France. A series of unfortunate events and her prodigious sartorial talent carry her to Paris, which in the wake of World War I is electric with new life. When Isabelle takes a job in the atelier of Coco Chanel, the rising star of haute couture, she finds herself in the heart of a glamorous and ruthless world filled with arrogant designers, handsome men, beautiful women, and fashion thieves who prowl Paris hoping to steal designs before they hit the runway.

In Chanel’s workshop, Isabelle thrives on the time honored techniques of couture the pains taking hand stitches, the perfect fall of fabric and the sleek, pared down lines of ‘Mademoiselle’s’ revolutionary style. As Isabelle brings an exquisite dress to life for the fall collection from its embryonic origins in humble muslin to its finished form in the finest silk she navigates the tempestuous moods of Chanel, the cutthroat antics of her fellow workers, and her own search for love.

Just as she did in her critically acclaimed novel I Am Madame X, Gioia Diliberto brings a rich historical moment to life through her vivid and compelling storytelling. Her penetrating research and imagination are gracefully woven together in this poignant story filled with larger than life characters embroiled in scandalous tales, passionate love affairs, and extraordinary careers. The Collection is an exuberantly entertaining read.

Debutante

Brenda Frazier isn’t Brendan Fraser.

Useful Woman

The first biography in twenty six years of Jane Addams founder of the Hull House settlement and winner of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize written with access to hundreds of new family documents. ‘Today, Jane Addams is widely recognized as an extraordinary figure in our nation’s history, one of a roster of great Americans Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. among them who made lasting contributions to social justice. But as with the lives of many iconographic figures, the legend often obscures the real story.’ Frequently recognized as one of the most influential women of the century and considered a hero*ine by nurses and social workers around the globe Jane Addams had to struggle long and hard to earn her place in history. Born in 1860 on the eve of the Civil War, she lived during pivotal times when women were only beginning to create new roles for themselves ironically building on the Victorian ideal of women as ministering angels. Focusing on her metamorphosis from a frail, small town girl into a woman who inspired hundreds of others to join her movement to serve the poor, A Useful Woman delves into the mysterious ailments and other troubles young Jane faced. Examining for the first time Jane’s physical and mental health and the effect of her father’s remarriage after her mother’s death, biographer Gioia Diliberto directly links Addams’s proneness to depression to her inability to conform to the mores of her time. Also, for the first time, she examines in detail Addams’s two marriage like relationships with women. With hundreds of previously unavailable documents at her disposal, Diliberto has written a fascinating study of one of the most intriguing and important women in history, concentrating on her difficult formative years with compelling and groundbreaking results.