The Spy

October 17, 2016
Coelho's striking novel about Margaretha Zelle, aka Mata Hari, the Dutch courtesan and "exotic" dancer who was executed in 1917 for treason and in all likelihood was innocent, unfolds through letters to her lawyer that she hopes will be given to her daughter if she is killed. Smooth, assured writing reveals a woman who refuses to be a victim: "someone who moved forward with courage, fearlessly paying the price she had to pay." She was raped by her headmaster at school and abused by her husband (a Dutch military officer), and she retaliated by exploiting the European love of the mysterious Orient through her "Eastern" veil dances. Although the novel is not Coelho's strongest work, the ending is brilliant in its irony, and throughout, he displays an ability to inhabit her voice. Through the letters, he illustrates the difficulties of being an independent woman in that time and place. By the end, readers will believe they've read Zelle's actual letters.

October 15, 2016
Coelho's (Adultery, 2014, etc.) novel about Mata Hari, the notorious and (in all likelihood) falsely accused World War I spy, hews closely to the facts.A prologue reveals what we already know from history: Mata Hari was executed by firing squad in Paris on Oct. 15, 1917. The rest of the book consists of Mata's fictional letter to her defense attorney, M. Clunet, written while on death row in the Saint-Lazare prison, and a similarly speculative letter of regret by Clunet. Mata cynically and philosophically details her bare-bones autobiography: she was born Margaretha Zelle to a bourgeois family in Holland. Raped by a school principal at 16, she is desperate to escape school and Holland: this she achieves by marrying a Dutch army captain and moving to Indonesia. The officer beats and sexually abuses her for years, until another military wife's suicide and a performance by Javanese dancers inspire Margaretha to rebel and return to Europe. Making her way to Paris, she introduces herself as Mata Hari to an impresario, Monsieur Guimet, who invites her to premiere her act--a spectacle that combines Java-esque dance moves and strip tease--at his museum. Her performances, a melange of titillation and sophistication, quickly catapult her to fame in the priciest nightclubs; soon she's the toast of Paris. With this go riches accumulated as the mistress of wealthy industrialists and bankers. Living only for pleasure, Mata is oblivious to the approaching hostilities of the Great War, so when she is invited to perform in Berlin, she goes without hesitation only to find that she is being recruited as a spy for the kaiser. What follows is a grim comedy of errors as Mata, after traveling back to Paris through a war zone, offers her services to France as a double agent. Unfortunately, her French handler has a hidden agenda. The absurdity of the charges against Mata Hari comes through clearly, but even as she tells her own story we never get a sense of her humanity, only her various personas and masks. A sympathetic but sketchy portrait of a legend.

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November 1, 2016
The upcoming centenary of Mata Hari's controversial execution has sparked renewed interest in the notorious dancer, courtesan, and possible spy. Michelle Moran wrote a novel about her, Mata Hari's Last Dance (2016). Now the beloved Coelho (Manuscript Found in Accra, 2013) detours from his mystical path, providing a more traditional, yet still philosophical, fictional memoir of a woman who paid the ultimate price for daring to defy convention in a time and a place where a war was raging, and justice was consequently distorted. Drawing parallels with the French Revolution, Coelho uses Mata Hari's story to illustrate how an individual's fate can be caught up in the effort by the powers-that-be to distract the public from the horrific realities of their circumstances. Narrated in a last letter sharing her life story, Mata Hari's fascinating past unfolds in matter-of-fact detail, culminating in her execution on charges of espionage. As an independent woman living life by her own rules, she is ultimately condemned by a society not only seeking diversion but also determined to punish her audacity. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Coelho has a tremendous and loyal following, and his latest will also attract historical fiction fans and those intrigued by Mata Hari's eternal allure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)