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Hottentot Venus : a novel by Barbara Chase-Riboud is a work of fiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is Hottentot Venus : a novel about?

From the bestselling author of Sally Hemings comes an extraordinary new novel based on the true story of Sarah Baartman, a South African herdswoman exhibited as a “scientific curiosity” in the capitals of nineteenth-century Europe. Barbara Chase-Riboud’s previous historical novels won her critical praise and established her as a writer who daringly transforms the hidden truths of the past into compelling fiction. In Hottentot Venus, Chase-Riboud recounts the tragic life of Sarah Baartman, re-creating in vivid, shocking detail the racism and sexism at the heart of European imperialism. Born in the colony of Good Hope, South Africa, in 1789, Sarah Baartman was taken to London at the age of twenty by an English surgeon, who promised her fame and fortune. Dubbed the “Hottentot Venus,” she was paraded naked in Piccadilly in a freak-show exhibition and subjected to the unabashed stares and crude comments of the British public, which resulted in a sensational trial for her custody by British abolitionists. Soon afterward, however, Baartman's keeper – who may have been her husband – sold her to a French circus owner. In 1814, her new owner took her to Paris as part of an exotic animal circ

Who reads Hottentot Venus : a novel?

Author

Barbara Chase-Riboud

Publisher

New York: Doubleday

Published

2003

Language

EN

ISBN

9780385508568

Category

work of fiction

Subjects

Literary Fiction, Fiction, History

Rating

3.71 / 5 (19 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14