The Red Dancer: The Life and Times of Mata Hari [Hardcover]

Richard Skinner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2002

Set against the dramatically imagined backdrop of Europe on the brink of the Great War, The Red Dancer re-creates the life of Mata Hari, last century's most romantic, enigmatic, tragic spy.

In 1895, Margaretha Zelle, a destitute young woman from The Hague, answers a personal ad placed by a Dutch army captain twice her age seeking a wife. After a speedy marriage, she departs with him for a posting in Indonesia. Marred by violence, infidelity, bitter feuding, and their son's disturbing death, the marriage collapses. Returning to Europe, Margaretha travels to Paris, where, inspired by the exotic enchantment of Eastern dance, she reinvents herself as the erotic dancer Mata Hari ("Eye of the Dawn"), the likes of which the Continent has never seen. Just as the major European powers lurch toward explosive conflict, Mata Hari's reputation as a dancer and courtesan starts to attract the attention of powerful admirers from Madrid to Vienna, from Berlin to St. Petersburg. Entrapped, Mata Hari is drawn into a military intrigue that will affect the course of World War I.

Narrated by historical figures whose lives intersected with Mata Hari's -- from her husband to her executioner -- The Red Dancer explores the mystery and downfall of a woman at the center of a notorious espionage scandal that has inspired historians and artists for generations. Ranging from exotic Indonesia to the seedy dance halls of Paris, it brilliantly depicts the delicious and eerie decadence of fin de sicle Europe and the onset of a global conflict that ended an era.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The life of WWI spy Mata Hari is examined from the perspective of the historical figures who knew her in this intriguing first novel by a British journalist. Beginning in 1895, when opportunistic Margaretta (Gerda) Zelle of the Hague married Rudolph MacLeod, a captain in the Dutch army, and went with him to Indonesia, Skinner chronicles the rise of a femme fatale who eventually dined with royalty, had her portrait painted by master artists and passed herself off as an exotic dancer before engaging in a career of espionage. The novel is written in a series of linked chapters, alternately narrated by the protagonist herself, her disenchanted husband (who tells about Gerda's chronic infidelity, the death of their young son and the breakup of their marriage), one of her maids and an omniscient narrator. Ever resourceful, Gerda returns to Europe and reinvents herself as an "Oriental dancer," engaging in liaisons with military and public figures and finally being recruited by the German espionage service. She is killed by a French firing squad in Paris in 1917. Skinner's research is assiduous, encompassing many aspects of fin de siŠcle European and Asian life. He incorporates in-depth explanations of Javanese musical instruments (which Mata Hari integrated into her art) and such topics as the origins of Cubism, the process of "dowsing" and the 1903 assassination of the king and queen of Serbia. Because Skinner chooses not to put himself inside his protagonist's head and maintains a dispassionate tone throughout, the tale is cool and distancing, but perhaps the legendary courtesan should remain an enigma.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Skinner's debut novel portrays Mata Hari through a series of imagined accounts from people who knew her. Each provides a limited perspective on the woman who transformed herself from Margaretha Zelle from The Hague into a renowned courtesan. Sections of letters, newspaper reviews of her performances, and other documentary fragments are interspersed with first- and third-person narratives that recall her experiences in Europe and the East Indies. Essays on topics ranging from absinthe to the Orient Express to Zeppelins precede chapters that tie Mata Hari to the subject in some way. We emerge from the novel as though leaving a hall of fun-house mirrors. Each view reflects some facet of its subject, but none offers a whole picture. This ambiguity might be Skinner's point, but ultimately it is unsatisfying. The book may renew interest in the enigmatic woman, executed as a spy, but those who really want to learn about her life and times will turn to biography or histories of the era. Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; 1st edition (March 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066213665
• ISBN-13: 978-0066213668
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,412,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A moving fictional biographhy, May 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Red Dancer: The Life and Times of Mata Hari (Hardcover)

Skinner's first novel is a delight from start to finish and has received woefully muted response on its initial publication (to my knowledge). This book took me on a journey all over the world, made me feel for a historical character I initially had no particular interest in and yet manages to keep that element of mystery that still surrounds the figure of Marta Hari. Skinner constantly launches surprises on the reader with multiple narrators, alternating small chunks of history in a non-fiction format with personal points of view. There are some heart-rending scenes (the fate of Mata Hari's son in Java, for example) and clever cameos (Picasso has a walk-on part) sewn into these pockets of historical background; and there is skulduggery and drama deftly and economically handled which other authors might well have bashed the reader over the head with (in the form of hundreds of pages). Well worth the read.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A woman victim of weak personalities...., October 24, 2006

By 

Mr Bassil A MARDELLI "Antoun" (Riad El-SOLH , Beirut Lebanon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Red Dancer: The Life and Times of Mata Hari (Hardcover)

Strange how Paris was associated with such type of exotic oriental style dancers who, by the end of the day, became involved in espionage activities.
This brunette mundane woman was alleged to have had experience shared by high-ranking military officers of Russian, German, and French nationalities.
In WWI the Netherlands remained neutral and as a Dutch citizen Mata Hari was able to cross borders freely, unnecessarily taking a longer routes by travelling via Spain and England, that her twisted itineraries attracted suspicions she could have been a double agent.
On record tracking, the British discovered that her lovers always ended relationships, prematurely, with silly disputes.
The British in particular interrogated Hari and reported she had said she had been working for the French military intelligence, but the French never confirmed her allegations.
The German Military attaché in Madrid cabled Berlin describing the assistance they were getting from `a German Spy'- code-named H-21. (`H' is probably Hari), French intelligence intercepted the message and was able to relate H-21 to Hari.
Hari was not beautiful as to produce a `killing' association with her lovers like that of `Delilah' on `Samson' for instance. Hari was an elegant woman who wore her dark smooth hair brushed upwards in the style of the day. She was always fashionably and expensively dressed.
When she was incarcerated, her features and eyelids bore traces of the fatigues of eventful evenings.
But whose fault was it that such a weak woman of 41 was, allegedly, able to exercise a malign influence on the destinies of Germany, France and England.
What was the mettle of the ineffectual officers on whose sides there was Hari on one hand and the destinies of their countries on the other.
Hari was executed by firing squad at WWI when France was at the lowest point in the war with Germany.
The French vented their anger on Mata Hari
A woman victim of weak characters of the men in charge of the destinies of Europe ...........

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a disappointment!, September 6, 2002

By 

Elizabeth A. Wasser (South Riding, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Red Dancer: The Life and Times of Mata Hari (Hardcover)

I picked up this book, hoping to find an exciting story about Mata Hari's life as a spy. Apparently Richard Skinner did not think we'd be interested in that--I read the whole book and still have no idea what country she spied for, how successful she was, or how she eventually got caught. Any time I found myself getting caught up in the story, Skinner abruptly changed narrators. If you want to read this book to learn more about Mata Hari, you will be let down.