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A Life in Wax
William Morrow
August 2006
Featuring: Madame Tussand
368 pages ISBN: 0060528478 EAN: 9780060528478 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Biography
Millions have visited the museums that bear her name, yet
few know much about Madame Tussaud. A celebrated artist, she
had both a ringside seat at and a cameo role in the French
Revolution. This intelligent, pragmatic businesswoman has
also had an extraordinary impact on contemporary culture,
planting the seed of our obsession with celebrity. In Madame Tussaud Kate Berridge tells this
fascinating woman's complete story for the first time,
drawing upon a wealth of sources including Tussaud's memoirs
and historical archives. It is a grand-scale success
story-how with sheer graft and grit a woman born in 1761 to
an eighteen-year-old cook overcame extraordinary reversals
of fortune to build the first and most enduring worldwide
brand identified simply by reference to its founder's name:
Madame Tussaud's. Central to her success was her status as a victim and
survivor of one of the most tumultuous times in history; her
grizzly relics both captivated her audience and reinforced
her own version of her life story. Her memoirs placed claims
of friendships with royals and revolutionaries-including
Marie Antoinette and Marat-alongside personal horrors, most
famously how she was forced to make death masks from the
guillotine-fresh heads of former friends. But as a born
entrepreneur did she extend her flair for publicity to
molding her own story?
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