Laura (Bookworm Extraordinaire)'s Reviews > The Impostor Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, The Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age

The Impostor Heiress tells the story of Cassie Chadwick, the woman who bankrupted banks and businessmen from Cleveland all the way to Boston by pretending she was Andrew Carnegie's bastard daughter. How? How could see have gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars before being caught? Simply by using a couple forged checks and by using the stereotypes of women to her advantage.

I mostly enjoyed the way Annie Reed presented Chadwick's incredible life with bits of Carnegie's life thrown in from time to time. The Impostor Heiress is written as if we are both inside the heads of the people involved in these scandals and as if we were simultaneously watching it unfold in the present. It was certainly well researched and presented in a way that will grip even the most reluctant of non fiction readers. This is perhaps because it was written in the same side by side style as The Devil in the White City; Erik Larson's famed book shows the juxtaposition between Chicago's World Fair and America's first well known serial killer, which opened up the world of nonfiction to many readers (but that I personally found incredibly dry).

Despite finding The Impostor Heiress to be overall more readable than most non fiction there were times while reading where I felt my attention drifting due to too much information on one thing or not enough information on another. The book had a lot that was perfectly balanced, the explanation of what Cleveland was like for example never felt overwhelming. But I couldn’t help but feel like Chadwick's cons were explained too in depth after a certain point. With so many figures and names being explained I just didn't care anymore because the point had already been driven home too many times. On the flip side, I would have loved to have had more moments of juxtaposition with Carnegie. Despite having nothing to do with Chadwick, it was fascinating to read about his life along side hers. I think having Carnegie's life explained even more fully would have helped drive the point of how audacious Chadwick's con was rather than the sometimes seemingly endless listing of exactly much money she conned and from who and how she spent it.

Overall, The Impostor Heiress was a solid non fiction read that I would recommend to any reader. It has a little bit of everything from scandals to feminism and history to gossip! I can see this becoming just as wildly read as The Devil in the White City, especially since it has an even greater appeal. Who wouldn't want to read more about this fabulous, audacious woman?!



Received e-ARC from the Publisher via the Read Now function on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.