Review: "Mata Hari's Last Dance" by Michelle Moran

Michelle Moran has written a captivating story about Mata Hari and it will inspire you to research this woman more. I had known that her name was synonymous with spies and spying but that was the extent of my knowledge. This book is the fictional story about this infamous woman. Born Margaretha Zelle into a wealthy family, life was good until her father lost their fortune. Her mother died and she found herself in a home with other unwanted girls. To escape her fate, she married a wealthy, older man who was abusive. To save her own life and her child’s, she ran away and created the mystic that was Mata Hari. She lived the opulent life of a performer, spending untold wealth and bedding numerous men. She was attracted to men in uniform, any uniform, from the German, French or English army, she wasn’t picky and this was her downfall.

The author uses flashbacks in Margaretha’s life to tell her story. This is a very effective because it shows the correlation of her actions to her past. Ms. Moran also portrays Margaretha as the woman she was and doesn’t try to sugar coat her life. Mata Hari was a woman before her time and while her behavior may have been acceptable for men of that time, it helped lead to her downfall.

This was a very appealing book and I didn’t want to put it down. Although the story itself is not graphic, I recommend it for older teens to adults because it does deal with adult subjects that I wouldn’t recommend for younger readers. This book accomplished what any good historical fiction should do, it compels the reader to dig deeper into Mata Hari’s life to discover her true motives.

I requested and received this book for review from NetGalley.