In this episode of The Reference Desk, Katie is bewitched with the story of Manhattan grifter-extraordinaire Anna Delvey (Anna Sorokin)
For several years, the New York City upper crust embraced a charming young German heiress named Anna Delvey. Delvey was a chic, bold entrepreneur who was pursuing funding for her brainchild the Anna Delvey Foundation when Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel DeLoache Williams met her. The pair formed an unlikely friendship involving celebrity trainers, infrared sauna treatments, and expensive meals in SoHo’s hottest restaurants. But the pair’s friendship turned sour when a so-called “dream vacation” to Morocco left Rachel with more than $60,000 in credit card debt, which Delvey refused to reimburse as promised. Rachel would soon discover that she was only one in a long line of victims Delvey defrauded.
Recommended titles (available in our bookshop)
All These Bodies by Kendare Blake
My Friend Anna by Rachel DeLoache Williams
How to Lead a Life of Crime by Kirsten Miller
The Curse Workers trilogy by Holly Black
The Widow of Wall Street by Randy Susan Meyers
To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris
Conman: A Master Swindler’s Own Story by J.R. ‘Yellow Kid’ Weil and W.T. Branson
Can You Ever Forgive Me? by Lee Israel
Empire of Deception by Dean Jobb
Links:
New York Magazine piece by Jessica Pressler