Lois 's Reviews > The Impostor Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, the Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by Annie Reed, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley.

The narrator of this nonfiction history audiobook is Kate Udall. Ms. Udall has a voice that conveys a lot of emotion. This works in the listeners favor during this wild history lesson.

This is the sordid and exciting tale of Cassie Chadwick, the Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age. HBO's The Gilded Age season 2 featured a character named Maud Beaton who it was later revealed to be based on the historical character of Cassie Chadwick. I kept an image of the actress who embodied Maud Beaton on the TV show in my mind while reading this.

Cassie Chadwick is the most well known pseudonym of Elizabeth Bigley, a Canadian con artist during the Gilded Age. Elizabeth was born in Canada West, better known as Ontario, in the 1800's. She was born to a large working class family. Her con's mostly involve knowledge of common banking practices at the time. Through much of the 19th & early 20th century cash money was often in short supply amongst middle class and wealthy folks. They paid bills using IOU's in a complicated system. An IOU could be used as cash to purchase goods and services. This is quickly found out and Elizabeth is reprimanded and returned to her family in Ontario.
Ms. Bigley schemes continue, she is occasionally caught and sometimes able to talk her way out of her troubles and sometimes forced to into restitution for her crimes. Along the way she has an annulled marriage, a son born out of wedlock, a bid in prison, and more.
Finally Elizabeth lands on her best Con yet, passing herself off as the illegitimate acknowledged daughter of Andrew Carnegie. Pretending to be a wealthy socialite with her fortune locked down beyond her control until a certain date, Elizabeth as Mrs. Cassie Chadwick, a doctors wife, takes on wealthy banks and individuals in Pennsylvania, Boston, Ohio, and Chicago, to name a few.

However, she is inevitably brought down by the depth and scope of her long, entangled con. I loved this! I adore folks who get over on the wealthy.

Thank you to Annie Reed, Tantor Audio , and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.