I am very excited about the Eye Prefer Paris Book of the Month selection for August 2017 and I am already half-way through it. The Bettencourt Affair: The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal That Rocked Paris by Tom Sancton is one of those great media stories brought to us in book form.
Liliane Bettencourt, heiress to the L’Oreal fortune and the wealthiest woman in the world with an estimated fortune of 45 billion dollars, lived a mostly sheltered life, estranged from her only daughter and her husband too busy delving into politics to bother with his wife. Bored and alone, she meets François-Marie Banier, an artist and photographer whose faded past included being a protégé of Salvador Dali and rubbing elbows with designer Yves Saint Laurent. Liliane strikes up a more than close relationship with Banier, bordering on obsession and over a period of the next 20 years gives him close to a billion dollars in gifts, cash, and insurance policies. The two lonely souls find solace in one another and Liliane is whirled into a new social world of artists, writers, and designers.
Enraged with her mother for giving away the family fortune to a total stranger and also suspicious of Banier’s motives in befriending her mother, Liliane’s daughter Francoise files a lawsuit against Banier and what follows is a media circus involving loyalty, jealousy, mistrust, family drama, shocking accusations and a surprising final victim; and least expected of all, a scandal involving the toppling of President Sarkozy.
I can’t wait to finish The Bettencourt Affair and I hope you will read it too.
Please support Eye Prefer Paris and order The Bettencourt Affair on Amazon icon below.
How did you enjoy last month’s book French War Brides: Mademoiselle & the American Soldier by Hilary Kaiser?
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this sounds right my street - will order immediately
Posted by: kate beswick | August 08, 2017 at 09:23 AM
Richard, thanks for your great review of THE BETTENCOURT AFFAIR. I'm honored by your book-of-the-month choice.
Best,
Tom Sancton
Posted by: Tom Sancton | August 08, 2017 at 04:23 PM