Being Divine

The most celebrated actress of her age, Sarah Bernhardt - "La Divine" - achieved a remarkable degree of fame in an era before film and television. In a career that spanned 60 years she packed theatres all over the world, and well into her old age. Her beautiful voice, extraordinary seductiveness - both on and off the stage - and enormous energy earned her the adulation of countless admirers. Aspects of her life were reported in obsessive detail, from her whim to sculpting in white silk pyjamas and having a tiger's tail grafted to her spine, to her ever-changing lovers and sleeping in a coffin. This account of Bernhardt's public and private life is by an author whose previous books include three on the 19th century, "Singer and the Sewing Machine", "The Dollar Princesses" and "The Spiritualists".