Signed, Mata Hari: A Novel
by Yannick Murphy
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Book Summary Information
Author: Yannick MurphyEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11-14
ISBN: 031611264X
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Book Reviews of Signed, Mata Hari: A Novel
Book Review: A fascinating novel about a woman who has become an icon
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed this imagined life of the famous spy Mata Hari; her life in Java is beautifully realized, and even the bleakness of her imprisonment and execution are well rendered.
EyeWitnesstoHistory has a chilling report of her execution, written by an eyewitness, Henry Wales. A few lines from his dispatch:
"Never once had the iron will of the beautiful woman failed her. Father Arbaux, accompanied by two sisters of charity, Captain Bouchardon, and Maitre Clunet, her lawyer, entered her cell, where she was still sleeping - a calm, untroubled sleep, it was remarked by the turnkeys and trusties.
The sisters gently shook her. She arose and was told that her hour had come.
'May I write two letters?' was all she asked.
Consent was given immediately by Captain Bouchardon, and pen, ink, paper, and envelopes were given to her.
She seated herself at the edge of the bed and wrote the letters with feverish haste. She handed them over to the custody of her lawyer.
Then she drew on her stockings, black, silken, filmy things, grotesque in the circumstances. She placed her high-heeled slippers on her feet and tied the silken ribbons over her insteps.
She arose and took the long black velvet cloak, edged around the bottom with fur and with a huge square fur collar hanging down the back, from a hook over the head of her bed. She placed this cloak over the heavy silk kimono which she had been wearing over her nightdress.
Her wealth of black hair was still coiled about her head in braids. She put on a large, flapping black felt hat with a black silk ribbon and bow. Slowly and indifferently, it seemed, she pulled on a pair of black kid gloves. Then she said calmly:
'I am ready.'"
*****
As Father Arbaux spoke with the condemned woman, a French officer approached, carrying a white cloth.
'The blindfold,' he whispered to the nuns who stood there and handed it to them.
'Must I wear that?' asked Mata Hari, turning to her lawyer, as her eyes glimpsed the blindfold.
Maitre Clunet turned interrogatively to the French officer.
'If Madame prefers not, it makes no difference,' replied the officer, hurriedly turning away.
Mata Hari was not bound and she was not blindfolded. She stood gazing steadfastly at her executioners, when the priest, the nuns, and her lawyer stepped away from her.
***
Robert C. Ross 2007 2008
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