Cornelia Otis Skinner's marvelous biography of "The Divine Sarah" held a prominent place on my mother's shelves as a child, and many were the times that I took it down and rifled through it, looking at the photographs and admiring the cover art. Finally, the summer I was eight years old, I decided to read it, spurred on partly by my admiration for its physical beauty (a book with so lovely a cover could not fail to be interesting, I reasoned), and partly by the fact that my mother liked to call me her "Little Sarah Bernhardt." To the best of my knowledge, it was the first adult book I ever read...

The life story of Sarah Bernhardt, a French actress who first gained acclaim in the 1870s, and whose long, varied career and scandalous personal life made her the celebrity par excellence of her day, makes for fascinating reading, and Skinner does justice to her subject. For a minister's daughter who grew up without the benefit of television, this was heady material, and I tore through Madame Sarah as if it had been a romance, or an adventure story.

This book introduced me, not only to an extraordinary woman, but to the wonders of biography, and for that I am most grateful. I have never read any other books devoted to Bernhardt, and cannot therefore comment on the accuracy of Skinner's portrayal; but having read Madame Sarah many time over, I can say that I always find it well-written and compelling. In this age of celebrity gossip, I sometimes think a little wistfully of "Madame Sarah," who could teach today's superstars to be scandalous with style. ( )

I adored this book and read it several times when I was in high school. ( )

4275 Madame Sarah, by Cornelia Otis Skinner (read 18 Feb 2007) This is a 1966 biography of Sarah Bernhardt (born in Paris 23 Oct 1844, died in Paris 26 Mar 1923). She was a fantastic character, and had an amazing career on the stage. All her performances were in French yet she toured the world (including an appearance at the Peavey Grand in Sioux City, Iowa, in February 1892). This book was consistently interesting even if not too exciting, and tells of a fascinating life. ( )