My Name is Mata Hari

At the turn of the twentieth century, exotic dancer Mata Hari lived and loved by her own rules. *** My Name is Mata Hari tells the story of the infamous dancer and courtesan who began as Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, a young Dutch woman who married the older Rudolph MacLeod, a military officer, and traveled with him to the Dutch East Indies. Claiming her mother’s Javanese ancestry, she changed her name to Mata Hari, Malay for “eye of the day.” Mata Hari danced on stages across Europe and the Middle East, and took many high-ranking military and government officials as her lovers. At the end of a tumultuous life, convicted for espionage during the First World War yet sustained by her pride, she said, “I am a genuine courtesan. And I am a dancer in the true sense.” *** Remy Sylado is the pen name of noted Indonesian novelist, poet, playwright, and musician, Yapi Tambayong. He also wrote the screenplay for the award-winning film, Ca Bau Kan (2002). Novelist and journalist Dewi Anggraeni delivers a creative rendition of startling depth and sensitivity for the first of Sylado’s novels to appear in English.