My Friend Anna
The true story of Anna Delvey, the fake heiress of New York City
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Narrated by:
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Rachel DeLoache Williams
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 & SchusterCritic 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)
Enjoyable but gets tedious
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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
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Great to hear Rachel’s side of the story
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Brilliant book
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Great book for a bookclub discussion in my opinion.
interesting but biased story
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