The First Actress is an absolutely wonderful (fictional) story about Sarah Bernhardt. I had first heard of her in my high school drama class, but aside from her sleeping in a coffin I didn’t remember anything about her. While many liberties have been taken, I think the reader still has a good idea of who Sarah Bernhardt was by the end of the book.

From the beginning, I was hooked. The writing flows easily and while I may not agree with all of Sarah’s choices in life, there is enough background that one can understand why she made the choices she did. This is my first book by C.W. Gortner and it won’t be my last.

I was given a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest reivew.