THE FIRST ACTRESS

Audacious, flamboyant and unapologetic, Sarah Bernhardt became the world's most famous actress and first international star, acclaimed for her naturalistic acting technique and astonishing range in both male and female roles. Her outrageous antics, which included posing in a coffin, an aerialstunt in a hot-air balloon, open acknowledgement of her illegitimate son, and bohemian lifestyle, heralded the excess of the motion picture era and our ongoing fascination with celebrity. Born in the mid-years of the Belle Époque, Sarah Bernhardt embraced modernity, her fame so far-reaching that her name is still legendary today. Yet few know the remarkable story of how this child of a Jewish courtesan rebelled against her era's constraints to forge an iconic place for herself in theatrical history.

In The First Actress, C.W. Gortner portrays the tumultuous formative years of Sarah Bernhardt in her own voice—from her beginnings as a neglected daughter to her extraordinary transformation into beloved actress, revealing the fallible, complex, and irrepressible personality who defied every odd to become Sarah Bernhardt.

Internationally bestselling author, C.W. Gortner is the author of The Romanov Empress (Ballatine 2018), Marlene (William Morrow 2016) a n d Mademoiselle Chanel (2015), as well as the other acclaimed
historicals: The Last Queen (Ballantine 2008), The Confessions of Catherine de Medici (2010), The Queen's Vow (2012), The Vatican Princess (2016), and The First Actress (forthcoming in 2020). He also writes The Spymaster Chronicles, a historical thriller series including The Tudor Secret (St. Martin's 2011), The Tudor Conspiracy (2013), and The Tudor Vendetta (2014). He was named one of the top ten historical novelists by The Washington Independent Review of Books.