Beware of counterfeits 
Dror Wahrman
- The Perreaus and Mrs Rudd: Forgery and Betrayal in 18th-Century London by Donna Andrew and Randall McGowen
- The Smart: The True Story of Margaret Caroline Rudd and the Unfortunate Perreau Brothers by Sarah Bakewell
The story of the Perreau brothers has all the ingredients of a classic film noir: blackmail, intimidation, seduction, betrayal, mysterious encounters, shady financial transactions, courtroom intrigues, confession, retraction and, above all, an irresistible femme fatale, Mrs Margaret Caroline Rudd. Perhaps an innocent and wronged victim, but more likely a cunning manipulator of everybody around her (particularly men), she alone walks away from a disaster, seemingly of her own making, that leaves everyone else confused, injured or dead. ‘All who know you,’ one extra in the drama told her, ‘are infatuated by your spells and love you; and all who love you, you bring to destruction as fast as possible.’ Callous or sentimental, artless or conniving, the protean Mrs Rudd, with her conspicuous and limitless wardrobe, cut a figure worthy of being played by Barbara Stanwyck or Joan Crawford. (Or, judging from the picture on the cover of Sarah Bakewell’s book, Veronica Lake. Except that it isn’t of Mrs Rudd – a publishing imposture to follow on the heels of so many other impostures in this story.)
Subscribers to the print edition can log in to view the entire article. For information about subscribing to the London Review of Books click here. This article is available for purchase online. Buy this article.
Dror Wahrman teaches in Bloomington at Indiana University. The Making of the Modern Self is forthcoming from Yale.
print layout
tell a friend