This was an absolutely incredible story of a woman forced into circumstances almost beyond her control; who did what she had to do to survive. I resonated deeply with the author. Her broken domestic situation is all too common in any day and age. The translation was wonderful, and I can't wait to read more about Celeste and her life as a courtesan. This is a book I will definitely recommend to friends who are fans of French history and women's history.

I was expecting more of an autobiography or a personal history; this book read like a story, and much of the language was very modern for supposedly having been written in the 1860s. Over all, rather a disappointment.

Don't know how this child named CE LEST EMOJAD Survive childhood because everything was going against her every turn. Her mother was t S EAM s Tr. E!Yes. Named J e a n n e it was had a lot of problems , especially with men. She marries this man named g, but he was very violent and very cruel to them. So she had to flee the child. No y n e. She took a different name because she was trying to hide from him. This became very interesting in the book. Because a lot of things seem to fall away real fast. They have riots in the streets and everything. And this is how g came back into their lives. It was very stressful from them all but she tried to hold it together. CE LEST E did not like this man at all. She had problems with your mother as well. When g died , they went back to paris to live , but this became even more of a crazy story. Her mother fell for this man , but he was very ruthless and he was a total lie and stuff like that. How to apprentice to a place where she learned her trade as well. Her mother became very mean and cruel to her because of this man. She loves your job and things just seem to go downhill from there. See runaway picked up by a Person who ran a In the whore house. Then she was picked up by the police and put in prison , but she eventually gets out. I think things can happen to people who do not have educations, especially 1850s. And can't wait to read her other volumes as well. I'd like to find out how she survived all these crazy things

I adored this. The translator and Celeste have a quick and engaging style. It's frustrating her original book was divided into four parts because it ends a little suddenly.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review

I like ‘Memoir of a French Courtesan’ it was very interesting read.

Rating 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Memoirs of a French Courtesan was a very enthralling read. It felt like a very authentic view of a woman’s life in the 1800’s. Mogador’s unwavering personality shone through the adversity she faced in her childhood. It was heartbreaking to see the dwindling of her relationship with her mother. The sorrow and distress she felt as time and time again her mother prioritized her abusive lovers over her own daughter was deeply felt. But it was refreshing to see her try to live her best despite the childhood she was given. I loved seeing her interactions with Therese and Denise. I was also excited for her when she met M. L and her first love. Furthermore, her memoirs also shed light on how sex work was viewed and how sex workers were treated. It was not something that was well tolerated, nor something you could come back from easily if so chosen. It was not something which she enjoyed doing and not something that society agreed with, but it was something she had to do in order to survive. So it was interesting seeing how she felt about this juxtaposition, how it affected her relationships with others, and the opportunities/ lack thereof that she was presented with in life.


Overall, it was wild ride and an interesting read. I would preface any potential readers that though this is a memoir that recounts the life of a courtesan, it is written in the 1800’s. So it is not very explicit by our standards. With this in mind, I would highly recommend reading it especially to those who are interested in learning about the day-to-day life and what it truly meant to be a courtesan in this time period.

Thank you to Net Galley who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In 1852 Celeste Mogador wrote her memoirs in self-defence. Speaking out about the lack of justice to be found in France during the dangerous years of her growing from childhood to adulthood, her life changing rapidly as she faced up to the reality of survival as a young and beautiful girl on her own; her story fills four volumes.
Raised as a spoilt, beautiful child she was much loved and doted upon by her parents until her father died. Her mother, remarrying a man who turned out to be a vile and brutish man, saw Celeste and her mother leaving the familiarity of their home in Paris to take up work in a town far from this man and his brutality.
Time passes and as Celeste grows into a captivating teen, her mother’s choice in men, always rather poor, sees Celeste forced to leave her home once again, but this time she discovers she is going to be on her own, as her mother has rejected her through a spate of jealous anger.
Celeste, is remanded in the local Police station, before she eventually finds a friendship of sorts, which leads her into her new life as a prostitute; a situation not all that uncommon for women who had no means of support.
As this is a Memoir published to outrage and acclaim in 1858 France, it presents a detailed and real story of life for those of a lower or middle class existence at the time of political upheaval, where marriage made women the property of the man, their lives considered of little account.
Not an overly long read, this is the first of four books translated from the French which for those interested in history makes a most informative read. Celeste transitioned from indulged child, to homelessness, prostitution, discovering fame as a Hippodrome performer who eventually met, fell in love with and married a Nobleman.
Translation, wording and time make a difference but Memoirs of a French Courtesan Vol 1: Rebellion also highlights that even though this was written more than150 years ago, in many instances little has really changed in the world of women who are unfortunate enough to fall on hard and difficult times.

Memoirs of a French Courtesan was originally published in 1858 and is here translated for us to read. This volume covers the life of Celeste Mogadishu from childhood to the age of sixteen. While the title suggests the life and times of a prostitute, this is not yet what this is about. This is a story of struggle in times that are extremely difficult for woman and young female children. Their lot is hardship without end. Although Celeste and her mother have friends and people they turn to for help, in the end they are left to their own resources in order to survive. The descriptions are vivid and the emotions are raw!

The publisher’s introduction is succinct:

“In this new English translation, Memoirs of a French Courtesan Volume 1: Rebellion introduces the young Céleste. In her first sixteen years, she has plenty to rebel against: an abusive stepfather, her mother’s groping new boyfriend, her jailers, her first madame, and her first client. Not to mention the actual rebellion that engulfed the streets of Lyon in flames when she was a child.
Mogador lays out her childhood and her choices—or lack of them—in this first volume of her memoirs, setting the stage for the glittering life to come.”

Recommended read.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from Practical Fox LLC via
NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#MemoirsOfAFrenchCourtesan #NetGalley

TL;DR

Memoirs of a French Courtesan: Volume 1: Rebellion by Céleste Mogador, Kristen Hall-Geisler (Translator) is an interesting look into how a woman became a prostitute in 1800s France. Recommended for fans of memoir and French culture.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.

Review: Memoirs of a French Courtesan: Volume 1: Rebellion by Céleste Mogador, Kristen Hall-Geisler (Translator)

Ever since I began learning the French language, I’ve taken an interest in its history and culture. I’ve been seeking out more books to understand the language better because language is as much a product of culture as vice versa. So, when I saw a chance to review a memoir of a French courtesan, I jumped on the opportunity. Memoirs of a French Courtesan: Volume 1: Rebellion by Céleste Mogador and translated by Kristen Hall-Geisler is an interesting view into how women in 1800s France had very circumscribed lives, and it was a wonderful read.

Céleste Mogador lived an exciting and dangerous life for a woman in 1800s France. She became a prostitute, then a dancer, a writer, director, a countess, and a widower. Her life began in Paris, and that’s where Volume 1 of her memoirs begins and mostly takes place. This volume covers the time when her mother remarried until she registered as a prostitute. It covers the terror of her stepfather to her fleeing Paris for Lyon; she describes life in Lyon; her return to Paris where her relationship with her mother sours; and her time in prison.

Memoirs of a French Courtesan: Volume 1: Rebellion is a memoir and thus told in the first person. It’s a fascinating account of Céleste’s young life. It reads well for being over a century old, and I couldn’t put it down. Some of the sentences are a bit odd, and I don’t know if that’s translation or just the form of writing in French at that time.

The Prospects of a Woman

Memoirs of a French Courtesan: Volume 1: Rebellion provides excellent insight into life as a woman of a lower class in 1800’s France. Her mother, upon remarrying, became her stepfather’s property to do with as she pleased, and the law didn’t help her with such a brute. Luckily, family friends and kind strangers did help her. All the while, her mother sought work where she could to support them, and as soon as Céleste could work, she did. They needed the money after all.

Her mother sought male companionship when she could and chose men who weren’t the best. The second suitor in the book made inappropriate passes at Céleste, which led to her fleeing the house. Interestingly, Céleste did rebel against her mother’s need for attachment by registering as a prostitute, assuring herself of no permanent male attachment. In addition, Céleste found this as a way to take her own destiny in her hands, and ultimately she was correct. Though we don’t get that far in this part of her memoir.

The Unreliability of Memoir

Memoir is derived from the French word for memory. As we all know, memory is a tricky thing. In effect, it’s a story we tell ourselves about our past. Very few people have perfect recall, and even then, there’s no way to verify how perfect their recall is. Finally, memoir is also situated in the viewpoint of a single person, which necessarily means that there are missing elements. Not everyone can know what’s going on around them with perfect clarity at all time. This is an unavoidable trap of memoir, and it’s worth remembering that the events are related as the person remembers them at the time of writing.

Céleste writes this as an adult, and she includes in moments that unless she was spying or the adults were talking ridiculously loud, she couldn’t have witnessed to the exact degree she is remembering. That’s fine. She’s telling the story and getting the essential bits of what she knows down on paper.

So, does this make the memoir false? Of course not. She’s relating to us the story of her life as she knows it, as she experienced it. She’s filling in some blanks to the best of her knowledge, and that’s fine because that’s how she remembered her life at the time of writing. It’s incumbent upon us as readers to give the memoir writer grace and not expect perfect recollection. If we can do that, we’ll experience wonderful stories like this.

Conclusion

Céleste Mogador’s Memoirs of a French Courtesan: Volume 1: Rebellion with Kristen Hall-Geisler as translator is a fascinating memoir. It’s a quick read that shows life for mid to lower class women in 1800s France. This memoir reads as fresh today, though less controversial, than it did during its release.

This is an actual diary of a Cortison Who grew up in Paris France with her mother her abusive stepfather and then her mothers boyfriend who would eventually push her out into the world in need of money and having no options. This is an exciting book she tells about her abusive stepfather G living through the revolution and how she met Denise the girl that would introduce her to the thing that would eventually make her famous. This is just book one and it ends with her and Love while she is still a teenager and so there is lots of story to go. Although she would eventually marry account and become a count test the stories in her journal or whirls away from that life. I love books that have eye witness accounts of historical events and this is a whole book told by the main character it tells about how her and her mom had to flee to Lorraine to hide from her stepfather her eventual kidnapping and how her and her mother had to hide while the revolution happened outside their door her attempted rape getting arrested and so much more this book is very interesting and although it isn’t polished like modern day memoirs it is still interesting and you can tell the author is very clever and a bit of a drama queen. I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read the next one this is a book I definitely recommend to anyone who loves memoirs history in a well told story. I want to thank the publisher the author and Net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I stopped about 3 pages into this to go back and read the description of the book. It reads like bad middle grade prose. I assume that is the style of the original writing and not the fault of the translator, to be clear. However, I find the writing style really off putting and disengaging. If this truly is a translation of a memoir penned by Celeste, it might be better suited for a more narrative history of her life as opposed to a direct translation. This format denies the reader context, both of the author herself but the era she’s living in. Having the ability to interject historical notes on the uprising in Lyons, for example, would enrich the girl’s recounting. Without it, it becomes very repetitive and dry.

What a stunningly wonderful book! It was very vivid and I was truly scared for Celeste many times. What a rough life she had! I am eager for the next book!

Even though the word “courtesan” is in the title, the majority of this book isn’t about being a courtesan—it is more about the courtesan’s childhood and how she came to her profession. This was a tough childhood for sure, and tough circumstances that led her to be who she ended up being. The book should come with content warnings for childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence at the very least—some parts were difficult for me to read.

But I really appreciate the glimpse into the life of someone of Celeste’s station in that time and place. The book was definitely illuminating in this regard; the characters were painted quite illustratively, enough for me to sympathize with Celeste throughout and despise, rage at, and love those that she despised, raged at, and loved. The plot line about her mother was particularly evocative; I was most heartbroken by her turn from love to neglect.

In the end, I felt like this wasn’t as generous a portrayal of sex work as others I have read, in that in the end, Celeste seemed to view herself as somewhat of a sinner and blamed herself for it. I’ve seen other more progressive/compassionate/empowering recasting of sex work, but this doesn’t feel like one of them; it feels more traditional, which is fine. I appreciate that this being a memoir, Celeste probably was just struggling with the stigma around sex work at that time, a struggle that was palpable in the words of the book, and that was quite moving to me.

I haven’t read the other translations or the original French edition, so I can’t comment much on the quality of the translation. But I can say the prose was beautiful in some parts, and definitely readable throughout—it was a tight, quick read for me. Some French phrases were preserved, which helped retain a feel of the original setting. The style felt appropriately archaic most of the time.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion, which is my own and listed below.

I was intrigued by the opportunity to read the POV of a courtesan in Paris from the 1800's, as such voices are not pushed as much. If you're expecting a spicy invitation to a brothel, this ain't it- we spend a good part of the memoir getting to know Celeste through her childhood. Once, sweet, and then very, very bitter. The section of her time as a working girl made up about 10-15% of the book.

Celeste felt like a character who was blunt, and one who held grudges and made snap judgements (which was delicious to read, by the way). She is honest about her struggles with entering the profession, and the stain on her name following her everywhere. There were a number of kindnesses given to her, and friendships so sweet that it made me want to cheer Celeste on.

This is more of a 3/3.5 star rating, but bumped up because our modern day reads are so quick paced and full of tension, I didn't feel that was a fair comparison. I didn't like where they chose to end this volume - I am interested to see what happens next.

An interesting inside look into the life of a french courtesan that history lovers or haters alike will find enjoyable. If you like me was always more interested into the day to day lives of people during different historical time periods, rather than whatever it was you were being taught at school this is a perfect recommendation!

'I don't want to make a novel of my life; I'm not trying to clear my name or pose as a heroine. In talking about what I suffered, of what I did - for better or worse - I will tell you everything I did without reservation, and you will see that it required great courage for me to face up the past'.

Celeste Mogador's memoirs, first published in 1858, were condemned with outrage as immoral. This latest translation of volume one details Celeste's childhood up until the age of sixteen, when she signed up with her first madam. After her father died, life became harder for Celeste and her mother, however, a series of events, exacerbated by Celeste's fiery temper and spoiled nature, compounded this hardship. 'Joy, sadness, affection, resentment, laziness, busyness - I exaggerate them all'. Erroneously perceiving she can gain independence and control over her life by registering as a prostitute, she has her mother sign her consent at the age of sixteen. The quagmire of misery deepens but the same fiery temper that was often the downfall of her childhood is the same fire that makes her strive to do something better, something more with her life and circumstances.

You may feel, from the title and topic of this book that it would be full of lurid, scandalous details. It is not. I found it fascinating to read the words of not only a 'common' woman, from a time when we typically only read from well-educated men, but also to read of circumstances that aren't pretty. Life was dismal and tough for many back then. And rather than reading it out of a Dickens novel, we get the layman's terms of a young woman's life. Some of the finesse may have been lost in translation at times but it is a fascinating first story for women's history aficionados. I'm keen to see where Celeste's life goes from here!

This is a translated memoir of a French courtesan from 1858. It's the first book in a series and so far it's very sad to read what this young girl has thus experienced with life. However, you can see that underneath is a strong and soon to emerge woman who I'm looking forward to reading more about. Some of the ideas can get a bit muddied due to translation but doesn't seem to really effect the author's intent. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, translator and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Practical Fox for an advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.

In this volume of Celeste Mogador’s memoirs, the reader is introduced to Celeste and her childhood memories. Mogador recounts from her life from her earliest memories of her father and mother along with how she was treated as a child on the run with her mother. In the first volume, Mogador tells her story with a dramatic pause and flair that does little to help the story along.

In this new translation by Kristen Hall-Geisler, there is a clear understanding that this is an older memoir that is being released to give an account of Mogador’s life and how she came to be famous. During the original time period of the release as of this volume, the societal norms were different from today. While Mogador was ahead of her time in many ways, her life story shows that society has changed by not without judgment of those deemed guilty of breaking norms that are accepted by society at large. The volume is short and leaves many questions that makes the reader anticipate the next volume.

This story is unfortunately one that many women are familiar with; a life of abuse, running, and neglect. I felt a whirlwind of emotions reading this book. I started off angered and saddened by the treatment of Celeste and her mother. Midway through I was frustrated by her naivety and again angered by the treatment she received. And at the end I excited by her new found empowerment. I enjoyed how rich the character development and felt that I really understood and knew everyone intimately. I wish the next volume were out so that I could continue learning more about Celeste’s journey.

I thought the book was ok. It got boring in spots and it felt like there could have been less details and more to the point.