In the 1800’s a woman could only hope to accomplish becoming a wife and to bear children. Nobody would believe a woman could design a scheme as complex as Cassie Chadwick did. Cassie wanted more in life…. money. Which lead her to create the first most elaborate Ponzi scheme before Charles. Chadwick was a con artists before her time. She had the ability to reinvent herself time and time again from a felon, a doctor’s wife, clairvoyant, and even an illegitimate daughter of Carnegie. As her embezzlement crashed banks, and fooled even the most accomplished men, she was able to trick and swindle for most of her life.
Overall rating 4/5
This was a great historical audio book that introduced me to a woman I knew nothing about. The way Reed made Cassie come to live within these pages and voiced by a great narrator Kate Udall I truly understood what drove Chadwick to do the things she did. It is also a reminder on how fraud prevention in our banking systems have been implemented now because of people like Cassie who found their flaws.
*Thank you to Annie Reed, Netgalley and Tantor Audio for the audio copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.