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The Extraordinary Untrue Life of Mirah de Rothschild
London, 1874.
Popular society lady Eloise has it all - unfortunately, she also has a brother standing in the way of her inheritance.
But cunning Eloise has a plan. She hires Mirah, a poor Jewish actress from the music halls of Limehouse, to pose as a distant Rothschild heiress and seduce her no-good brother. The aim? Cause such a scandal that he is disinherited before their ailing father dies. There's just one cardinal rule Eloise has to follow for her scheme to don't fall in love with the woman she's hired...
Popular society lady Eloise has it all - unfortunately, she also has a brother standing in the way of her inheritance.
But cunning Eloise has a plan. She hires Mirah, a poor Jewish actress from the music halls of Limehouse, to pose as a distant Rothschild heiress and seduce her no-good brother. The aim? Cause such a scandal that he is disinherited before their ailing father dies. There's just one cardinal rule Eloise has to follow for her scheme to don't fall in love with the woman she's hired...
325 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 1, 2024
4 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 2, 2025
THE EXTRAORDINARY UNTRUE LIFE OF MIRAH DE ROTHSCHILD is the perfect romp of a historical Jewish sapphic historical romance that I needed in my life.
One night, Mirah, a Jewish actress at a seedy music hall gets an offer from an unexpected and obviously out-of place patron: a high society woman, Eloise, seeking to secure her family’s inheritance. As a woman in Victorian London, Eloise is at the mercy of the men in her life and upon her father’s impending death, her family’s estate, wealth, and reputation will be inherited by her irresponsible and reckless brother. In order to convince her father of her brother’s lack of responsibility, Eloise asks Mirah to seduce her brother in a plot that will send him into social ruin. Mirah reluctantly agrees, posing as a wealthy foreign member of the Rothchild family in order to secure some stability and financial support for her own brother. It should be easy enough: act her ass off, pretend to marry a wealthy man, cause a massive scandal, and exit unscathed and with 10% of her employer’s inheritance. But Mirah and Eloise find themselves in a tangle as the lies pile up and the plan accrues an unexpected factor: feelings.
Compulsively readable and utterly enjoyable, this book is just an absolute joy. I often read books in public, and I found it so impossible to keep myself from smiling and laughing while reading this that I noticed strangers craning their heads to peek the title. (I hope those folks pick this book up and have the absolute blast that I did.) I've been deep in dissertation writing hell and this has been the perfect book to lift my spirits and bring some fun to my days of stressing about deadlines.
The characters are bursting off the page. The shenanigans are perfectly balanced between stressful and properly entertaining. The plot is so well-woven and precise. And the thematic conversations about grief and family and wealth pair a healthy heaping of thoughtfulness with silliness. But most importantly: the romance is so compelling. The slow burn, the circumstantial obstacles, the chemistry, the pining — my god, the pining! — I was hooked the whole way through. Absolutely just a well-rounded romance and a damn good book.
Read this book if you’re interested in: sapphic yearning, historical settings with diverse casts, heartfelt portrayals of complex sibling dynamics, dogs dressed up in silly little costumes, farcical plots, critiques of Victorian classism, and historically accurate queer joy.
Also!! This book is currently donating all proceeds to various Palestinian fundraisers so you should DEFINITELY get it.
Disclaimer: I am friends with the author and was gifted a copy. All opinions are my own.
CW: death of father, death of mother (past), grief, illness, alcoholism, societal homophobia, transphobia (mention), classism, emesis, pregnancy (mention)
One night, Mirah, a Jewish actress at a seedy music hall gets an offer from an unexpected and obviously out-of place patron: a high society woman, Eloise, seeking to secure her family’s inheritance. As a woman in Victorian London, Eloise is at the mercy of the men in her life and upon her father’s impending death, her family’s estate, wealth, and reputation will be inherited by her irresponsible and reckless brother. In order to convince her father of her brother’s lack of responsibility, Eloise asks Mirah to seduce her brother in a plot that will send him into social ruin. Mirah reluctantly agrees, posing as a wealthy foreign member of the Rothchild family in order to secure some stability and financial support for her own brother. It should be easy enough: act her ass off, pretend to marry a wealthy man, cause a massive scandal, and exit unscathed and with 10% of her employer’s inheritance. But Mirah and Eloise find themselves in a tangle as the lies pile up and the plan accrues an unexpected factor: feelings.
Compulsively readable and utterly enjoyable, this book is just an absolute joy. I often read books in public, and I found it so impossible to keep myself from smiling and laughing while reading this that I noticed strangers craning their heads to peek the title. (I hope those folks pick this book up and have the absolute blast that I did.) I've been deep in dissertation writing hell and this has been the perfect book to lift my spirits and bring some fun to my days of stressing about deadlines.
The characters are bursting off the page. The shenanigans are perfectly balanced between stressful and properly entertaining. The plot is so well-woven and precise. And the thematic conversations about grief and family and wealth pair a healthy heaping of thoughtfulness with silliness. But most importantly: the romance is so compelling. The slow burn, the circumstantial obstacles, the chemistry, the pining — my god, the pining! — I was hooked the whole way through. Absolutely just a well-rounded romance and a damn good book.
Read this book if you’re interested in: sapphic yearning, historical settings with diverse casts, heartfelt portrayals of complex sibling dynamics, dogs dressed up in silly little costumes, farcical plots, critiques of Victorian classism, and historically accurate queer joy.
Also!! This book is currently donating all proceeds to various Palestinian fundraisers so you should DEFINITELY get it.
Disclaimer: I am friends with the author and was gifted a copy. All opinions are my own.
CW: death of father, death of mother (past), grief, illness, alcoholism, societal homophobia, transphobia (mention), classism, emesis, pregnancy (mention)
Want to read
March 15, 2024Well, with no reviews at all this is a gamble... but it's about lesbians so I'll take it
April 4, 2024
“We were both liars, yes, but I'd been more comfortable when I thought we were liars together, sharing in the same scandalous, perilous untruth.”
This is an immersive and utterly satisfying story from start to finish. I loved all the interactions between Ernest and Mirah, I highlighted tons of funny passages.
The prose is immersive, lush, and absolutely gorgeous. I felt fully transported to 19th Century England and absolutely loved all the clothing descriptions!
“Colour bloomed in her cheeks, and when our eyes met, I knew it hadn't just been the whiskey, no matter what she claimed.”
I really enjoyed the interactions between Eloise and Mirah. They’re both interesting in their own way and very likable, and I was rooting for both of their schemes, even as I sensed (fun) trouble.
This is the kind of book you get lost in. Highly recommend!
This is an immersive and utterly satisfying story from start to finish. I loved all the interactions between Ernest and Mirah, I highlighted tons of funny passages.
The prose is immersive, lush, and absolutely gorgeous. I felt fully transported to 19th Century England and absolutely loved all the clothing descriptions!
“Colour bloomed in her cheeks, and when our eyes met, I knew it hadn't just been the whiskey, no matter what she claimed.”
I really enjoyed the interactions between Eloise and Mirah. They’re both interesting in their own way and very likable, and I was rooting for both of their schemes, even as I sensed (fun) trouble.
This is the kind of book you get lost in. Highly recommend!
March 18, 2024
Sapphic and Jewish, how could I not pick this up? A delightful book. Beautifully written, with such vivid descriptions I could almost smell the soot in the air, and characters who are flawed, desperate and real. A little heavier at times than the description makes it sound, but without lapsing into melodrama. I did feel that the relationship between Mirah and Eloise could have had a bit more build-up—the story focused a little more on their plotting than on the details of the two women falling in love—but this is not so much a critique as a note of my own personal preferences. I read this one in a single sitting because I couldn't put it down. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.
May 28, 2024
There are many aspects in this book that don't really make sense at second or even first glance, yet sometimes you just wanna cure your sickness with tea and a charming sapphic novel and in that case, this book is your friend.
I am also pretty sure that goodreads fucked this up and this book is not in fact written by the political scientist Prof Vivien Hart who passed away in 2009...
I am also pretty sure that goodreads fucked this up and this book is not in fact written by the political scientist Prof Vivien Hart who passed away in 2009...
July 16, 2024
I couldn't put the book down, such a detailed world with intriguing characters, a suspenseful narrative, delightful machinations, really funny moments and a wonderful love story at the heart of it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews