My Friend Anna cover art

My Friend Anna

The true story of Anna Delvey, the fake heiress of New York City

Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

My Friend Anna

By: Rachel DeLoache Williams
Narrated by: Rachel DeLoache Williams
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £14.35

Buy Now for £14.35

Season's Savings | £0.99/mo for 3 months

£5.99/mo after 3 months - terms apply. Cancel monthly

One of Time magazine's must-read books of 2019.

With a new and exclusive afterword.

How does it feel to be betrayed by your closest friend?

A close friend who turns out to be the most prolific grifter in New York City....

This is the true story of Anna Delvey, the fake heiress whose dizzying deceit and elaborate con-artistry deceived the Soho hipster scene before her ruse was finally and dramatically exposed.

After meeting through mutual friends, the 'Russian heiress' Anna Delvey and Rachel DeLoache Williams soon became inseparable. Theirs was an intoxicating world of endless excess: high dining, personal trainer sessions, a luxury holiday...and Anna footed almost every bill.

But after Anna's debit card was declined in a Moroccan medina whilst on holiday in a five-star luxury resort, Rachel began to suspect that her increasingly mysterious friend was not all she seemed.

This is the incredible story of how Anna Sorokin conned the high-rollers of the NYC social scene and convinced her close friend of an entirely concocted fantasy, the product of falsified bank documents, bad cheques and carefully edited online photos.

Written by Rachel DeLoache Williams, the Vanity Fair photography editor who believed Anna's lies before helping the police to track her down (fittingly, deciphering Anna's location using Instagram), this is Catch Me If You Can with Instagram filters.

Between Anna, Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland (Anna even tried to scam Billy) and Elizabeth Holmes, whose start-up app duped the high and mighty of Silicon Valley, this is the year of the scammer.

©2019 Rachel DeLoache Williams (P)2019 Simon & Schuster
Con Artists, Hoaxes & Deceptions True Crime Scary Exciting Funny Thought-Provoking
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

"'A Catch Me If You Can for the internet age... What Anna did was make Instagram flesh." (Guardian)

"At a time when we are obsessed with true-crime...Anna Sorokin is the real deal. That doesn't make it right. But oh, it tastes good." (Pandora Sykes, Elle)

"Anna looked at the soul of New York and recognized that if you distract people with shiny objects, they will be virtually unable to see anything else. And the thing was: it was so easy." (New York Magazine)

All stars
Most relevant
Maybe I was expecting slightly more from the story but in the end I found it drawn out and a bit underwhelming. I liked the narrator and sympatheised with her but after the facts are laid out it gets very tedious to listen to. Doing some reading afterwards I found hearing from some of the other characters involved (Neff in particular) was more interesting than listening to Rachel constantly checking her bank balance. Overall though as I didn't know the story at all beforehand I enjoyed the listen.

Enjoyable but gets tedious

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I added this to my wish list a few months ago but the sample sounded a bit dull but I still wanted it so when I saw it for £3 I thought it was worth a buy - I binged it in two days.

You can empathise with friend Rachel Williams, a well-raised, polite girl from the south seeing the best in everyone. Sadly her trusting nature was taken advantage of by Anna Delvey. It is read by the author who has a soft-spoken sweet voice who you cannot help but empathise with.

The story gets repetitive in the middle going and felt like a long-winded episode of Judge Judy. However it is extremely well-written with some beautiful metaphors. The author has the patience of a saint. Despite being continually kept in the dark, she responds to Anna with frustrated by polite decorum. You cannot help but root for her all the way through.

It was surprising how addictive it was even it was repetitive. I kept reading for the ending trying to find out how Anna got away with it for as long as she did and if Rachel got a suitable resolution.

I eagarly await the up-coming Netflix adaptation.

Surprisingly bingeworthy if a little repetitive

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

If you have listened to The Fake Hairess documentary then you will love this, it’s great to hear Rachel’s side of the story.

Great to hear Rachel’s side of the story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Well written beautifully read and well said !! Read it twice would read it again ! Rachel was definitely the victim in all off this !

Brilliant book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Rachel has written a book giving an interesting insight into the Fake Heiress saga.. i personally felt that she continually painted herself whiter than white from the first words, which made it a very one sided story and made me wonder if she 'doth protest too much' I find it hard to believe anyone that's so successful and has so much business acumen can be completely nieve..

Great book for a bookclub discussion in my opinion.

interesting but biased story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews