While I love following the trials and tribulations of women in historical settings, this book and the turn it took seemed like it tried to do too much. We are along for the ride of a young girl who finds herself pregnant, abandoned by her family, and sent to live with nuns. She gives birth to her daughter and then has her taken away. it lights a fire in her to better her station in life. She makes sacrifices and endeavors to position herself so that she cannot be taken advantage of anymore. And then...the book takes a turn that I spend a good 60 pages trying to decide if I loved or hated. In the end, it clouded things for me instead of clarifying them. I enjoyed the read, but it isn't something that I'd be quick to suggest to others.

I was intrigued by the history and themes this book covers, but, in the end, the book really didn't work for me.

This novel was inspired by a true story during a time in the 19th century where women were struggling to prove they were more than a marriage prospect. The story beings with an Annie Moore, a pregnant 16-year old, who is sent to a convent due to her disgraced status being pregnant and not married. The nuns take her baby and Annie vows to find her daughter at any cost. You might ask yourself what you might do to get back a child who was stollen from you in a time where women’s rights were limited, betrayals and revenge were rampant in society. I like period pieces and the author does a good job of adding details that bring that time to life for the reader. I recommend the book and the author.

Cover: Eye-catching! I like it.

Mixing genres is a risky business. It can go yay, and you have a masterpiece in your hands, or it can go less yay, and you end up with a bland literary soup.

The Lives of Diamond Bessie starts with a bang. Annie gets kicked out of her house when she gets pregnant, and she ends up working in a boardinghouse to support herself. So far, so good; the historical elements sound realistic and I’m looking forward to seeing how Annie—now known as Bessie—will overcome her struggles. Up to the point where she marries a rich man, I have this list of subplots ideas, and I’m making bets to myself: which one will be correct?

Then the novel swerves into supernatural territory, which is where I lose my grasp on the plot. Ghosts are an interesting addition to stories, and I would have had no objections to the supernatural-slash-historical experiment if such a move made sense. You’re a ghost with a beef towards a certain person. Fair. You haunt someone else to get justice. Why? You’re a ghost! You could just haunt the person who wronged you and forced them to confess if you didn’t want to go all murdery yourself, no?

Apparently, not. Also, the supporting characters we meet in this second part read a bit weaker when compared to the other ones.

From a technical standpoint, The Lives of Diamond Bessie reads well. No grammar mistakes, no random pov switching, a pleasant rhythm, and a first pov done well. The only thing that brings down the rating is the supernatural twist.

3 stars on GR.

I had a lot of fun reading this book, as I was already familiar with Bessie’s case. I’ve spent a lot of time in Jefferson, Tx, so it was really cool to read this book. The writing was well done and I felt a connection to Bessie.

I started off being very invested in this story. I liked Annie/Bessie a lot and understood her motivations and choices, at least to begin with. After the big twist (which everyone seems to spoil in reviews….read them with caution), I lost interest. I ended up skimming a lot of it just to get through it. I believe this book was the author’s debut, and I’d definitely be interested in reading more. The characters really jumped off the page.

The Lives of Diamond Bessie paints a realistic picture of how many young women turned to prostitution in the early 19th century, and were systematically predisposed to drug use, prosecution and treated as property. Annie Moore believes she is in love and trusts the man who promises to care for her until she finds herself a single unwed mother ostracized from her family. Jody Hadlock does a wonderful job making Annie, turned working girl as Bessie, into a relatable and tragic character. Historically speaking I appreciate the research for the time period and story to be portrayed so accurately. I received an ARC of this book and all opinions are my own.

A huge appreciation goes out to the BookSparks #SPRC2022 Program, SparkPress, and Jody Hadlock for sending me a gorgeous finished copy of The Lives of Diamond Bessie, which in my opinion should have been titled The UNFORTUNATE Lives of Diamond Bessie, becausie Annie Monroe (Diamond Bessie) just can't seem to catch a break throughout the course of her life.

This Historical Fiction, turned Paranormal Drama, had me on the edge of my toes and also eagerly ready to strike down Abe Rothschild at any moment. Annie Monroe has a rough start to her teenage years as she's sent to a convent to repent her sins of "being pregnant" but after mistreatment at the convent leaves her sick and without her baby, she escapes to a "better" life, but all she can come up with in the mid 1800s is working in a Parlour Home, selling herself to survive. Over the years, she moves up in this system and meets many a folk willing to pay for her time, one of those suitors being Abe Rothschild, a trust fund man-child from Cincinnati (I geeked out over all of my hometown references) where she eventually meets her demise with him as he robs, abuses, and murders her dead.

Stuck in purgatory, Annie/Diamond Bessie then chooses to "live" out the rest of her days waiting to see forth that Abe is prosecuted and hung, but time and time again she is disappointed and has to go through the burden of it all; made out to be a liar. It was a poorly unfortunate tale of an ambitious woman born in the wrong time-period, who was poorly treated and abused by everyone in her path. I pitied this poor woman, but it was a big eye-opener into how women were treated in the 19th century, and truly how they get tossed around from century to century. This was a moving tale, which I wish provided me with a happier ending, but I appreciated the book nonetheless.

4/5 I definitely recommend to all of my historical fiction junkies out there.

Diamond Bessie, or Annie (her birth name), started her life as an ordinary girl, who became pregnant and was sent off to have her baby out of view of the neighbours. Her baby was taken from her, and she quickly found herself needing to make her own way in the world after escaping the nasty nuns who “cared” for her during her pregnancy.

Bessie is taken in by a brothel owner, where she successful with the male visitors. She soon plans to find and take back her daughter. When that doesn’t work, she plans to find a man with enough money, which she does, to help her get out of this life. The one she eventually ends up with proves to be utterly self-centred and weak, and eventually kills her for her money, at which point she becomes a vengeful ghost.

This was a lacklustre take on an actual case of a former prostitute murdered by her deadbeat husband in the late 1800s in the US. This book left me skimming and hoping I could get to the end faster so I could get to some other story.

Thank you to Netgalley and to SparkPress for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I had never heard of the historical Diamond Bessie. I had to go look her up!

This fictionalized account of her life is fascinating. Annie Moore finds herself in the family way after a young man sweet-talks her into going further than was proper for an unwed girl. The young man wants nothing to do with her once he learns she’s pregnant, and, betrayed, she is packed off to a convent. There she is to redeem her soul by God’s grace and harsh treatment at the hands of the nuns. When the nuns take her baby, Annie determines that she won’t stay there. She flees the convent, and ends up taking employment as a demi-mondaine – a prostitute to a generally higher class of clientele.

When Annie – or Bessie, as she is now known – meets Abe Rothschild, spendthrift heir to the Rothschild diamond fortune, she falls hard for him. He apparently falls hard for her, too, but harder for her jewels, the diamonds with which she is identified. Their relationship is up and down, but when he finally proposes to her, Bessie hopes she can leave her working life behind her. But Abe, still more interested in her assets than Bessie herself, leaves her dead in Jefferson, Texas, far from home.

My heart just broke for Annie/Bessie. She made the best of the bad hand she was dealt in just about the only way a “loose woman” could in her era. What she’d given away for love, she now sold for profit. She knew what waited when she lost her youth and beauty, and it was nothing good. She hoped that her marriage to Abe would be her salvation, but it was the end of her instead.

And Bessie’s viewpoint after her earthly life ends is almost the more intriguing part of the book. From a Christian perspective, I don’t believe spirits linger here, seeking to finalize unfinished business. But what a thought, that she wanted revenge badly enough not to “go to the light.”

Jefferson, Texas still remembers Bessie to this day. After reading this book and learning of her, I might feel the need to pay a visit to her final resting place the next time I’m in the Lone Star State.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for this book.

I felt the writing was done well in this book but there was just something missing for me and I couldn't get into it and enjoy it as much as I hoped I would.

Diamond Bessie was killed and her killer was never brought to justice. Before that, Diamond Bessie was Annie Moore. After much tragedy in her young life, Annie became a prostitute known as Bessie. One day Bessie met Abe Rothschild, they fell for one another, and got married. Not long into their marriage, they traveled to Jefferson, TX, where Bessie was killed.

The Lives of Diamond Bessie is told from Bessie’s point of view. While most people suspected they knew who Bessie’s killer was, he was never convicted. This novel is Bessie’s story of bringing her killer to justice.

I was okay with the first part of the novel, but when things switched to Bessie’s spirit’s point of view, I lost interest. It felt almost like two separate novels. A solid start with a lackluster ending.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.75+ stars

This is a book about sex, relationships, gender roles, social expectations, religion, family, survival, violence, betrayal, and so many other things. I was really enjoying it, and then things changed a bit more than halfway through; I didn’t dislike the rest, but it was completely not what I expected. This is probably considered a spoiler, but the comparisons to The Lovely Bones are a lot more accurate than I anticipated- I wasn’t expecting the protagonist to die midway through the novel, and I definitely wasn’t expecting the story to continue to be told from her perspective even after that. It was an interesting strategy, and while I didn’t dislike it, I also didn’t enjoy it as much after that point. The ending was still mostly satisfying, though, and I’m glad I finally found time to explore this story.

Excellent. Engaging. Well done.

An interesting narrative choice at 63%. A bit confusing at 74%, but eventually my memory cleared it up.

Such a good book - Definitely recommend!

I loved this book! Rich with atmosphere and historic detail, it's a glimpse into a very different world where women seem to have faced much the same challenges as always. Jody Hadlock paints a detailed, believable picture of a woman forced to make impossible choices in challenging times and ultimately meeting an undeserved end. It's upsetting and moving, but also a great story about a remarkable woman who deserved better.

Pregnant out of wedlock, sixteen-year-old Annie Moore is sent to live at a convent for fallen women. When the nuns take her baby, Annie escapes, determined to find a way to be reunited with her daughter. But few rights or opportunities are available to a woman in the 1860s, and after failing to find a respectable job, Annie resorts to prostitution in order to survive.


As a highly sought-after demi-mondaine, Annie—now Bessie—garners many expensive gifts from her admirers, and eventually meets and marries the son of a wealthy jeweler. With her marriage, she believes her dream of returning to proper society has finally come true. She’s proven wrong when she suffers the ultimate betrayal at the hands of the man she thought would be her salvation. But Bessie doesn’t let her story end there.


This book was marketed as The Lovely Bones but historical fiction and I thought that was pretty accurate. I'm not usually one for historical fiction but I did find this to be pretty captivating and the story was immersive. I sympathized a lot with Bessie as a character and I loved that it was based on true events - I can see a lot of women going through this at that point in time. A great and lovely story. 4/5 Stars

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for my free digital copy.

I read this many months ago, so I apologize for possible numerous inaccuracies. Never the less, the fact that I read this so long ago and still remember much of the convoluted plot, is commendable. I remember feeling like it was not one book but three, and while the character and plot are purportedly based on the events in the life of a real person, I would venture a guess that the character’s story is not unlike the plight of many other single young pregnant women of the period (c. mid 1800s) – dumped on the steps of a convent dedicated to dealing with a family’s problem that is humiliating, expensive, and unwanted.

So, we begin our journey with Annie Moore (soon to be known only as Bessie Diamond) giving birth in the convent under punishing conditions. Immediately after giving birth, her baby is whisked away to God knows where (did I really say that?). Bessie eventually escapes the convent, determined to return and reclaim her baby. Soon our heroine discovers that young women, skilled or no, could not possibly hope to find honest employment that would pay for an independent lifestyle, roof over head, and/or food on the table. After passing out on the street, she eventually ends up in yet another type of nunnery, and soon becomes adept at bringing in the dough for her Madam while socking away a tidy amount on the side – not to mention expensive diamond jewelry. Of course, she is the most beautiful and definitely the luckiest at plying her new trade – otherwise she would have been dead of consumption, venereal disease, or drug abuse within a year of her joining the profession.

Enter benefactor #1 who has a wife and child but is smitten with Bessie – up to a point (the point of giving diamond jewelry). Next, enter benefactor #2, who just happens to be the black sheep son of a Rothschild (how do I remember all of this after so many months?). Bessie chooses door #2, of course, which basically seals her fate as she foolishly falls for the rake who fleeces her for all she is worth. When she won’t give up the diamonds, Rothschild takes matters into his own hands – that is when things get really interesting as we move over to the supernatural. At this point I will let the reader who gets that far into the book, discover for him/herself the new direction of the plot. Although, I do not generally enjoy supernatural elements in a book, unless they are campy, this is where the plot becomes original and far less predictable.

This book is worth a read, especially for the final direction which is far more interesting than reading about Bessie’s tragic beginnings and foolish choices.

Thank you NetGalley and SparkPress for an ARC of this book. This could have been a DNF if the book hadn’t snagged my attention in the nick of time – and I’m so glad it did, because I really enjoyed! 3.5+ stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this wonderful book! This is a great first novel for this new author that brings Annie "Bessie" Moore's story about determination, betrayal, redemption and revenge. I would recommend this novel to my bookish community who are in the mood to read historical fiction with lots of mystery.

This took a turn I absolutely was not expecting! I really enjoyed the first half of the book but was a bit disappointed by the rest. The author's note at the end is well worth a read, as it explains the true story behind the book.

I really tried several tries to get into this book. Out just wasn't for me. I wasn't drawn to the protagonist and felt that the plot was weak.