Mata Hari

The colourful story of a famous femme fatale

So long did she spin legends about herself until she became a legend herself... Mata Hari... a name that became synonymous with spy. A fate so incredible that a simple biography seems more fantastic than a fictional story.

"Give me a quick hug, a kiss and let me go. Stand to my right. I'll be watching you. Goodbye." These were the last words Mata Hari spoke when she stood before the firing squad on October 15, 1917. But what preceded it? Where did it begin and where did its intricate, incredible journey lead? How did a poor Dutch girl with the ordinary name of Margaretha Zelle become the mysterious dancer Mata Hari, lover of many important men, a spy and finally a death row inmate? In the golden era, the belle époque, she infatuated all of Paris, broke many hearts and her name flew from mouth to mouth. Everyone believed that she was an Oriental and a temple maid of the gods, everyone succumbed to her colourful mystifications.

The author has managed to write a biographical novel with the utmost respect for historical facts, but at the same time extremely intimate and gripping. Narrative in the present tense, beautiful, in slightly archaic language, ...he gives the impression.., as if we were indeed at the beginning of the last century, and as if all these - bizarre events, both comic and tragic - was happening right now, right in front of us...