The Red Dancer

by Richard Skinner

  ‘Lovingly researched and beautifully imagined.’ Daily Mail

  About the Author

  Richard Skinner is the author of The Mirror. A translation of one of its parts, ‘The Velvet Gentleman’, was shortlisted in France for the Prix Livres & Musiques. He has also published two books of poetry and a collection of essays, reviews and interviews entitled Vade Mecum. He is Director of the Fiction Programme at Faber Academy.

  Further praise for The Red Dancer:

  ‘The Red Dancer seduces from its very first line, then like an exotic striptease performed on a stage filled with shadows and flowers, it reveals, glimpse by glimpse, the eponymous Mata Hari. Was she Gerda, Margaretha or Madame MacLeod? Mother, dancer, courtesan, lover or spy? By the end of the book one feels that one has travelled with her through turn of the century Indonesia, the sparkling cafés of Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and the impossibly glamorous Orient Express. Never have I learnt more from reading a work of fiction! This is an ambitious and experimental book, one which packs an emotional punch and surprises with twists and revelations when one least expects. I delighted in the passionate characters, the beautiful scenes and interwoven stories, which shine like rubies and precious jewels all set in a gilt gold bracelet.’ Chloé J. Esposito, author of Mad

  ‘An intriguing and utterly beguiling account of the life of the iconic, enigmatic and elusive Margaretha Zelle, Lady Gerda McLeod, Mata Hari; from young bride to exotic dancer to German spy. The shapeshifting form of The Red Dancer, a deft and intoxicating blend of fiction and non-fiction, conjures perfectly the various lives of its protagonist. Mata Hari is as much a myth as a person, a mass of reinventions and contradictions, fears and projected desires, and The Red Dancer embraces this. I finished it even more intrigued by the woman than before I started reading, surely testament to the book’s bewitching power.’ Lucy Caldwell, author of All the Beggars Riding

  ‘This is quite a story – refreshingly original and utterly captivating in style, with the glamour, thrills and mysteries of this roller coaster of a life. A calm rendition of the facts allows the raw emotions felt for such a doomed and tragic ‘heroine’ to strike home with a reality that is immensely powerful.’ Essie Fox, author of The Somnambulist

  ‘A shining mosaic of a novel in which fiction is fused with fact, this is a dazzlingly researched portrait of the life of Mata Hari. Its fragmented narratives form a controlled drama, thanks to Richard Skinner’s characteristic restraint. There is cool poetry here, an incendiary subject viewed through a series of lenses.’ Joanna Briscoe, author of Sleep With Me

  ‘A fascinating reconstruction of the life of Mata Hari, ingeniously weaving fact and fiction to give us the bare bones of the woman while still maintaining her mystery.’ Esther Freud, author of Mr Mac and Me

  ‘A fictionalised life of Mata Hari that tentatively, delicately and poignantly fills in the person behind the myth.’ Observer

  ‘An original and absorbing version of a cryptic life.’ Sunday Telegraph

  ‘Creating first-person accounts from a cross-section of people who would have known her – army officers, maids, critics – Skinner conjures a life from the myths.’ Jemima Hunt, Guardian

  ‘A short, riveting book . . . an assured debut.’ Sunday Express

  ‘This recreation of the life, loves, fame and infamy of Margaretha Zelle, aka Mata Hari, is completely absorbing, with its collage of fiction and historical detail.’ Bookseller

  ‘This fictional recreation of the life of exotic dancer and spy Mata Hari eschews sensationalism in favour of an elegant understatedness that lends gravitas to a sad and complex tale. The strange facts of Hari’s life are conveyed with elegance and humanity through a series of disconnected vignettes of her life as dancer, courtesan, spy and prisoner.’ Big Issue

  ‘Skinner’s novel is profoundly intriguing and informative . . . this is a serious, thorough work about a remarkable subject.’ Book

  ‘Fascinating . . . This is an impressive debut – impeccably researched, cleverly structured and boldly written.’ Lucy Powell, Ham & High

  By the Same Author

  THE MIRROR

  First published in the UK in 2001

  by Faber & Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  New paperback published 2017

  This ebook edition first published in 2017

  All rights reserved

  © Richard Skinner, 2017

  Cover design by Faber

  Cover image © Apic/Getty Images

  The right of Richard Skinner to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–34267–9