The Bettencourt Affair Audiobook By Tom Sancton cover art

The Bettencourt Affair

The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal That Rocked Paris

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The Bettencourt Affair

By: Tom Sancton
Narrated by: Amanda Carlin
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About this listen

Heiress to the nearly 40-billion-dollar L’Oréal fortune, Liliane Bettencourt was the world’s richest woman and the 14th wealthiest person. But her gilded life took a dark yet fascinating turn in the past decade. At 94, she was embroiled in what has been called the Bettencourt Affair, a scandal that dominated the headlines in France. Why? It’s a tangled web of hidden secrets, divided loyalties, frayed relationships, and fractured families, set in the most romantic city - and involving the most glamorous industry - in the world.

The Bettencourt Affair started as a family drama but quickly became a massive scandal, uncovering L’Oréal’s shadowy corporate history and buried World War II secrets. From the Right Bank mansions to the Left Bank artist havens; and from the Bettencourts’ servant quarters to the office of President Nicolas Sarkozy; all of Paris was shaken by the blockbuster case, the shocking reversals, and the surprising final victim.

It all began when Liliane met François-Marie Banier, an artist and photographer who was, in his youth, the toast of Paris and a protégé of Salvador Dalí. Over the next two decades, Banier was given hundreds of millions of dollars in gifts, cash, and insurance policies by Liliane. What, exactly, was their relationship? It wasn’t clear, least of all to Liliane’s daughter and only child, Françoise, who became suspicious of Banier’s motives and filed a lawsuit against him. But Banier has a far different story to tell...

The Bettencourt Affair is part courtroom drama; part upstairs-downstairs tale; and part character-driven story of a complex, fascinating family, and the intruder who nearly tore it apart.

©2017 Tom Sancton (P)2017 Penguin Audio
20th Century Business Entertainment & Celebrities Europe France Modern Professionals & Academics
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Critic reviews

An NPR Best Book of 2017

"Juicy...the very picture of un grand scandale about the world’s richest woman." (Vanity Fair)

"Liliane Bettencourt, the L’Oréal heiress worth billions, became infatuated with a man 25 years her junior (a former Dalí protégé and an apparent social climber), giving him lavish gifts and even moving to adopt him. The story has all the trappings of a juicy affair, including graft and hidden Nazi sympathies." (Joumana Khatib, The New York Times Book Review Paperback Row)

Fascinating Drama • Intriguing Story • Interesting Characters • Detailed Account • Meticulously Researched
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A very detailed account of the lives of a dysfunctional family. I don' think Banier was trying to steal from her. I think she was a lonely old woman who should have been able to spend her money how she pleased. I think the daughter was more about the money.

Very good

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very well written, with detailed background. always wanted to know the story. Very well narrated

great story

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It picked up about halfway through. Before that I kept wondering why I had chosen to read/ listen to this title. Total rating, in spite of all the "critical raves" is meh.

It picked up about halfway through

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Its astonishing this happened in this decade. Tragic. But well written and narrated. Its like slowing down to see the car crash. I hope these people find their happiness and goodness.

An era that is no longer

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If this was fiction people would say it is to farfetched
What I like about this book are several
One a deep appreciation for the U. S. Judicial system
Two the book gave you great detail from the beginning all the way up today.
My only complaint and it is no fault of author. Is the names are in French. I had hart time keeping people straight who was who.

The things we do for money

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This story is, of course, amazing....but the French voice reading it to me was spectacular!

love the French voice reading

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This is a great story. The Vanity Fair piece was riveting. This voice is horrifying. You couldn’t get an actress who speaks French and narrates. Kristin Scott Thomas? It will take weeks to get through this.

Impossible to listen to.

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this was long. It's a great story. Carlin had a lot of years and info to wade through and she threaded it together neatly. Although, it could have used a pdf - I relied on the google to help understand how pieces and people fit together. The narrator was almost the reason I quit listening, and it was quite a workout to finish it.

LAAWD

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The reader’s voice was very distracting. At times she sounds exactly like Siri, piecing together fragments of words that don’t flow. Other times she sounds like she desperately needs to clear her throat. Story was average. Nothing less. Nothing more.

Read by Siri?

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It was interesting, but I think I would have been much more engrossed if the cast of characters where a part of my cultural society.

As it was, apart from “Sarkozy”, all name-dropping completely missed the mark. I was never wowed.

Overall, it was good – but LOOOONG.

A sad tale

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