Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age
(Abrams Press, 2022)

Saturday, September 24, 2022
10:00 AM
Rollins Community Center and Lewes History Museum

About the book
Among the tycoons of the Gilded Age — Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt — is a forgotten figure: Mrs. Frank Leslie, who for 20 years ran the country’s largest publishing empire. A pioneer in an all-male industry, she became a national celebrity and tastemaker. Miriam Leslie married four times, took lovers, and lived in the thick of courtroom and romantic melodramas. Her past was hidden in a skein of lies and multiple personas, but her biggest secret — the beneficiary of her multimillion-dollar estate — wasn’t revealed until after her death.

About the author
Betsy Prioleau is a writer and cultural historian. She is the author of Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love; Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them; and Circle of Eros: Sexuality in the Work of William Dean Howells. 

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
With the help of our presenting sponsors—Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I PenFed Realty—as well as our community partners and volunteers, the 2022 History Book Festival was full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction.

Special thanks to Lewes Public Library, for venue and assistance with event promotion; to Browseabout Books in Rehoboth, our official bookseller; and to the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.

Mark your calendars for the 2023 History Book Festival. Join our authors, interviewers, and other attendees at live events throughout the weekend of September 29, 30, and October 1.