The Complete Series

Volume 1: Rebellion

When I wrote these memoirs in 1852, I was ignorant of
the future awaiting me; who could have known? It was not my
willful brazenness that dictated I write these memoirs; it was not
for provocation or moral outrage, as some of those who were
quick to take offense said. Before you sentence the guilty, at
least listen through to the end of the story.

So begins the memoirs of Céleste Mogador. The four volumes of
the infamous courtesan and Hippodrome performer, Mémoires
de Céleste Mogador, were published to scandalous acclaim in
Paris in 1858. At the urging of her lawyer, Mogador wrote
about her troubled childhood, her ascent to the heights of
the glamorous Parisian courtesan society, her transition to
respectable life, and falling in love with a nobleman.

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.

Volume 2: Spectacle

“It would be easier for me to defend the city of Mogador than
my dance partner!” Brididi said, pulling me away by my arm.
“Wait,” he said loudly, “I’ll call you Mogador!”

What happened is silly but true, and it wasn’t so long ago, yet
people don’t remember it. A hundred voices shouted, “Long live
Mogador!” They threw dozens of flowers into the circle where I
was dancing.

In this new English translation, Memoirs of a French Courtesan
Volume 2: Spectacle follows Céleste Mogador through young
adulthood as she makes her own way in the Parisian demimonde
alongside friends, lovers, and bitter enemies. As a young woman,
Céleste learns to dance at the local balls and earns her sobriquet,
Mogador. Her rivalry with another dancer graces the gossip
pages, garnering her a fandom that carries her to even greater
fame as a trick rider in the new Hippodrome.

But tragedy and death still cling to Céleste, and her affections
are taken up and betrayed time and again. Not to mention that
she’s still on the rolls as a courtesan, which limits her freedom.
She emerges through it all with a new love and a new future on
the horizon—though like all that shimmers, it might be too good
to be true.

Volume 3: Luck

“Listen, Céleste, I love you very much, but I’m not rich enough
to keep you along with all these responsibilities. If you want, my
chateau is unoccupied. Bring your furniture; you won’t have to
pay rent. We’ll live happily at my place, and I’ll make the
necessary changes. If someday we break up and I marry, I will
pay back what I owe you.” That was one of the best days of my life….

In Memoirs of a French Courtesan Volume 3: Luck, Céleste
Mogador is torn between her love for the volatile Robert and
the steady Richard, she cares for an infant goddaughter, and
through it all she works in the theater and attends glittering balls.
She also takes up gambling—on roulette and Robert’s faltering
fortune—while a revolution sparks and a cholera epidemic erupts.

Where will her luck leave her when the house of cards
that is her life collapses?

Volume 4: Payback

“I had to try or die. That may be the only advantage I had over Robert right then. Since my fall wasn’t as far as his, my ruin was not as devastating. He was obliged to head for the ends of the earth. But I could stay and try to recover my money from my enemies in court.”

There is never a dull moment in Céleste Mogador’s life, not even in this final volume of her memoirs. Her lover, Robert, is disgraced and disowned and on his way to the mines in Australia. She throws herself into her work at the theater to cope while at the same time battling Robert’s family to recoup the money he took from her. Ghosts from her past reappear. And during it all, she’s raising her goddaughter to be a respectable woman.