![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I have just finished "Illicit", and want to make a list about fictional and real life imposters.
True Case:
The Case of Martin Guerre: In 1548, Martin Guerre left his wife and children abruptly. Several years later, a man claiming to be him appeared. He lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years. The false Martin Guerre was eventually suspected of the impersonation. He was tried, discovered to be a man named Arnaud du Tilh and executed. The real Martin Guerre had returned during the trial. How much Guerre's wife Bertrande de Rols is duped or complicit remains a matter of controversy.
Sarah Wilson (1745? – 1780) was an English impostor who traveled to America as a convict servant and pretended to be British royalty. As a teenager, she began her career of "wandering around England “imposing on the compassion and credulity of different persons in town and country". In 1768, She was sentenced to penal transportation to the American colonies then and sold as a convict maid. She escaped and started to travel through Virginia and the Carolina as Queen Charlotte’s sister, and successfully maintained her royal pretension to her death. Interestingly, there was wide spread legend of her as a former maid of the Queen's maid after her death. Perhaps it was more scandalous to imagine a mere working class girl successfully fooling the powerful and high class.
Review of Books about Sarah Wilson:
The Impostress: The Dishonest Adventures of Sarah Wilson
J. Frank Dalton (1848-1951): an American impostor who claims to be two long-dead famous Western historical figures, lawman Frank Dalton and outlaw Jesse James. First he claimed to be Frank Dalton from 1930s. Confronted with compelling evidence that he wasn't, he switched the gear and claimed to be Jesse James instead
Fiction
Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey: "In this tale of mystery and suspense, a stranger enters the inner sanctum of the Ashby family posing as Patrick Ashby, the heir to the family's sizable fortune. The stranger, Brat Farrar, has been carefully coached on Patrick's mannerism's, appearance, and every significant detail of Patrick's early life, up to his thirteenth year when he disappeared and was thought to have drowned himself. It seems as if Brat is going to pull off this most incredible deception until old secrets emerge that jeopardize the imposter's plan and his life."
It's a classic. I love finding out the mystery along with Brat Farrar buried in his lie and pretense. One reasons I'm really into identity issues and pretense in fiction.
Illicit (The Wrong Alpha #3) by Alessandra Hazard: "The last time Liam Blake saw his eldest brother, Anthony was sixteen and Liam was five. Liam barely remembers him. He remembers adoring his big brother and remembers missing him, but his childhood memories faded as he grew up.
Fifteen years later, a man who calls himself Anthony Blake finally comes home after the war ends. He has documents that prove his identity, and he has Liam’s brother’s dark hair, blue eyes, and broad shoulders. There’s no reason to think he isn’t who he says he is—except for Liam’s strange, inexplicable attraction to the man who claims to be Anthony. " (M/M omegaverse)
I really like how realistic the characters feeling are. Lian's full of guilt and shame. When Lian's brother find out their relationship, he's very WTF about it. This detail make it real to me.
True Case:
The Case of Martin Guerre: In 1548, Martin Guerre left his wife and children abruptly. Several years later, a man claiming to be him appeared. He lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years. The false Martin Guerre was eventually suspected of the impersonation. He was tried, discovered to be a man named Arnaud du Tilh and executed. The real Martin Guerre had returned during the trial. How much Guerre's wife Bertrande de Rols is duped or complicit remains a matter of controversy.
Sarah Wilson (1745? – 1780) was an English impostor who traveled to America as a convict servant and pretended to be British royalty. As a teenager, she began her career of "wandering around England “imposing on the compassion and credulity of different persons in town and country". In 1768, She was sentenced to penal transportation to the American colonies then and sold as a convict maid. She escaped and started to travel through Virginia and the Carolina as Queen Charlotte’s sister, and successfully maintained her royal pretension to her death. Interestingly, there was wide spread legend of her as a former maid of the Queen's maid after her death. Perhaps it was more scandalous to imagine a mere working class girl successfully fooling the powerful and high class.
Review of Books about Sarah Wilson:
The Impostress: The Dishonest Adventures of Sarah Wilson
J. Frank Dalton (1848-1951): an American impostor who claims to be two long-dead famous Western historical figures, lawman Frank Dalton and outlaw Jesse James. First he claimed to be Frank Dalton from 1930s. Confronted with compelling evidence that he wasn't, he switched the gear and claimed to be Jesse James instead
Fiction
Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey: "In this tale of mystery and suspense, a stranger enters the inner sanctum of the Ashby family posing as Patrick Ashby, the heir to the family's sizable fortune. The stranger, Brat Farrar, has been carefully coached on Patrick's mannerism's, appearance, and every significant detail of Patrick's early life, up to his thirteenth year when he disappeared and was thought to have drowned himself. It seems as if Brat is going to pull off this most incredible deception until old secrets emerge that jeopardize the imposter's plan and his life."
It's a classic. I love finding out the mystery along with Brat Farrar buried in his lie and pretense. One reasons I'm really into identity issues and pretense in fiction.
Illicit (The Wrong Alpha #3) by Alessandra Hazard: "The last time Liam Blake saw his eldest brother, Anthony was sixteen and Liam was five. Liam barely remembers him. He remembers adoring his big brother and remembers missing him, but his childhood memories faded as he grew up.
Fifteen years later, a man who calls himself Anthony Blake finally comes home after the war ends. He has documents that prove his identity, and he has Liam’s brother’s dark hair, blue eyes, and broad shoulders. There’s no reason to think he isn’t who he says he is—except for Liam’s strange, inexplicable attraction to the man who claims to be Anthony. " (M/M omegaverse)
I really like how realistic the characters feeling are. Lian's full of guilt and shame. When Lian's brother find out their relationship, he's very WTF about it. This detail make it real to me.
