Bad Scarlett: The Extraordinary Life of the Notorious Southern Beauty Marie Boozer

Marie Boozer (1846 - 1908) was a beautiful, brilliant, and notorious strawberry blonde who established a remarkable life. Above all, she was human-complete with foibles and attributes beyond the stereotypical perception held by the public. Bad Scarlett: The Extraordinary Life of the Notorious Southern Beauty Marie Boozer is her first full-length biography and reveals the true, redemptive story of a young belle from South Carolina who transformed into a scandalous divorcee in New York and London, a Paris courtesan defying police authority, and ultimately a countess and world citizen-while her half sisters raised families in pioneer Florida.

A skilled historian and imaginative writer, Deborah C. Pollack has replaced half truths and prejudices with a complete, exhaustively researched biography of Marie Boozer’s life. Pollack also has recued La Boozer from 150 years of calumny, smirking innuendos, and insipid scholarship at the hands of Lost Cause zealots, potboiler novelist, and pop-culture historians. The real-life Marie Boozer had a character that was braver, more independent, and far grander than any of the legends about her. -Alexander Moore, historian of South Carolina

Marie Boozer was a liberated woman for her time and lived an interesting and exciting life with many trials and tribulations. In a well-written biography, Deborah Pollack’s extensive research to right the wrongs about Marie Boozer’s life is extraordinary. I enjoyed the relationship between her sister Ethland Feaster Wilson and other family members at LaGrange, Florida. - Rosalie Foster, historian and president, North Brevard Heritage Foundation