ABOUT THE BOOK

Excerpt | Praise

A Los Angeles Times, Denver Post, and Edmunton Sun bestseller

Set amid the decadence of the Belle Époque and dazzling chateaux of France and the female-oppressed culture of Persia in the nineteenth century, Courtesan unfolds with the breathtaking cinematic sweep and stunning visual grandeur of an epic film. At its heart are three unforgettable women: Madame Gabrielle, the courtesan whose fateful liaison with the Shah of Persia reverberates in the lives of her daughter, Françoise, who uses her erotic charms to unearth the mysteries of her past, and her granddaughter, Simone, who rebellious and brave turns her back on the family profession and dares to fall in love with a Persian Jew. Her journey plunges her into the cutthroat diamond trade, where the secrets of an ancient culture may hold the truth she desperately seeks.

With Courtesan Dora Levy Mossanen dazzles with a story that explores the conflicts between mothers and daughters, freedom and subjugation as it sweeps us into the perilous mysteries of an exotic world where excess, passion, and prejudice reign.