The subject of this book, Cassie Chadwick, was fascinating and well researched. Honestly it seemed more like historical fiction than non-fiction. There was a lot of unanswered or unexplained things about her life, perhaps because those parts lacked a historical record? Readers of both non-fiction and historical fiction would enjoy. I didn't enjoy the parts of the story from Andrew Carnegie's point of view because I didn't necessarily think it added anything to Cassie's story. I enjoyed it and liked it but wouldn't go out of my way to recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

In the 1800’s a woman could only hope to accomplish becoming a wife and to bear children. Nobody would believe a woman could design a scheme as complex as Cassie Chadwick did. Cassie wanted more in life…. money. Which lead her to create the first most elaborate Ponzi scheme before Charles. Chadwick was a con artists before her time. She had the ability to reinvent herself time and time again from a felon, a doctor’s wife, clairvoyant, and even an illegitimate daughter of Carnegie. As her embezzlement crashed banks, and fooled even the most accomplished men, she was able to trick and swindle for most of her life.
Overall rating 4/5
This was a great historical audio book that introduced me to a woman I knew nothing about. The way Reed made Cassie come to live within these pages and voiced by a great narrator Kate Udall I truly understood what drove Chadwick to do the things she did. It is also a reminder on how fraud prevention in our banking systems have been implemented now because of people like Cassie who found their flaws.
*Thank you to Annie Reed, Netgalley and Tantor Audio for the audio copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

Interesting writing style on this one - I had to come back and check if it was fiction or non-fiction because it felt like it vacillated between the two. Interesting details (I knew her story but not in this depth), so very much up my alley.

The Impostor Heiress is a fast-paced, entertaining, and informative audiobook. It focuses on Cassie Chadwick's story of fraud, but it also includes important historical information that provides a background to explain Cassie's actions. This is very clearly well-researched and well-written. It was easy to power through in one sitting because I wanted to see what would happen next! The whole time you're wondering how this woman was able to pull this off.

The audiobook has a great narrator. It was easy to follow, even at a higher speed. 

I hope the author continues in this vein of writing about interesting women in history!

Wow! This was a thrilling non-fiction audio book. It felt like a suspense story as Cassie's cons built and built. It really made clear that while she was committing crimes that only happened because men in power were all too happy to take advantage of someone they saw as an emotional woman who didn't know how to manage her finances. I didn't really get a sense of Cassie's internal life or how she had become pregnant and her relationship with her son, sister, and the rest of her family beyond the con, which I'm assuming is due to a lack of source material.

I should start off by saying that I’m not usually a nonfiction reader. However, I love deep dives into eccentric people’s lives. At first, the audiobook narrator sounded a little bland, but I came to appreciate her tone because I could really focus on story. Cassie Chadwick was born Elizabeth Bigley, to a working-class family, in 1857. This book follows the multiple schemes she pulled off to swindle men out of an estimated $633,000 ($16.5 million today). Thankfully, author Annie Reed did not tell this story like a history report, but instead like a historical heist novel. Despite the subject being one of crime, I couldn’t help but find myself smiling, rooting for the grifter gal. In a time when women could not own property, borrow money from the banks, or even vote to change those policies, Cassie managed to live a life most people only dream of. She’s the embodiment of the phrase “I support womens rights AND wrongs”. The few recollections from Andrew Carnegie’s POV scattered throughout the book were a nice change of pace and provided an alternative perspective to how these events unfolded. I don’t think the story would have been the same without them.

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Annie Reed, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley.

The narrator of this nonfiction history audiobook is Kate Udall. Ms. Udall has a voice that conveys a lot of emotion. This works in the listeners favor during this wild history lesson.

This is the sordid and exciting tale of Cassie Chadwick, the Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age. HBO's The Gilded Age season 2 featured a character named Maud Beaton who it was later revealed to be based on the historical character of Cassie Chadwick. I kept an image of the actress who embodied Maud Beaton on the TV show in my mind while reading this.

Cassie Chadwick is the most well known pseudonym of Elizabeth Bigley, a Canadian con artist during the Gilded Age. Elizabeth was born in Canada West, better known as Ontario, in the 1800's. She was born to a large working class family. Her con's mostly involve knowledge of common banking practices at the time. Through much of the 19th & early 20th century cash money was often in short supply amongst middle class and wealthy folks. They paid bills using IOU's in a complicated system. An IOU could be used as cash to purchase goods and services. This is quickly found out and Elizabeth is reprimanded and returned to her family in Ontario.
Ms. Bigley schemes continue, she is occasionally caught and sometimes able to talk her way out of her troubles and sometimes forced to into restitution for her crimes. Along the way she has an annulled marriage, a son born out of wedlock, a bid in prison, and more.
Finally Elizabeth lands on her best Con yet, passing herself off as the illegitimate acknowledged daughter of Andrew Carnegie. Pretending to be a wealthy socialite with her fortune locked down beyond her control until a certain date, Elizabeth as Mrs. Cassie Chadwick, a doctors wife, takes on wealthy banks and individuals in Pennsylvania, Boston, Ohio, and Chicago, to name a few.

However, she is inevitably brought down by the depth and scope of her long, entangled con. I loved this! I adore folks who get over on the wealthy.

Thank you to Annie Reed, Tantor Audio , and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

How fascinating!! I am not one to always enjoy nonfiction but this was great.

I want to thank NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the compliment audioARC of this title. My opinions expressed are indeed my own and honest.

To be honest I was out of ARC books to read and listen to so I went on a spree of requesting just to have things at the ready to consume. The title and cover art drew me in. I saw that it was a biography but figured I didn’t have anything better going on so why not.

I’m so glad I did! While it was a factual account of Cassie Chadwick’s life as a conwomen, it read like a fiction book. It was t just because of Chadwick’s actions which are jaw dropping, but how the author conveys the material. It is very well written.

For the narration I will say that the narrator spoke very slowly. Thankfully this was easily corrected by increasing the speed of the playback as I think it would have been a challenge to listen to long term. Other than the speed the narrator was delightful and complimented the prose with her diction and reactions.

I highly recommend putting this on your TBR and the good thing is it’s available now! You get to learn about a fascinating women, her history as well as learning about the time period and how things were in society and especially the rights (or lack of them) that women had. All while feeling like you’re listening to a great caper!

I don’t give 5 Stars lightly but it’s well deserved.

Rating
My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Annie Reed did a masterful job telling Cassie Chadwick's story. I found "The Imposter Heiress" fascinating and a thoroughly enjoyable audio book. The narrator was wonderful as well.