Description

*THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

*ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2019*

*WITH NEW & EXCLUSIVE AFTERWORD*

‘Addictive … a jaw-dropping read’ STYLIST

‘Explosive … Definitely one for the beach’ ELLE

‘Paints a fascinating picture of an eccentric egomaniac who rails against all authority … gripping stuff’ SUNDAY TIMES
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How does it feel to be betrayed by your closest friend? A close friend who turns out to be the most prolific grifter in New York City…

This is the true story of Anna Delvey (real name Anna Sorokin), the fake heiress whose dizzying deceit and elaborate con-artistry deceived the Soho hipster scene before her ruse was finally and dramatically exposed.

After meeting through mutual friends, the ‘Russian heiress’ Anna Delvey and Rachel DeLoache Williams soon became inseparable. Theirs was an intoxicating world of endless excess: high dining, personal trainer sessions, a luxury holiday … and Anna footed almost every bill.

But after Anna’s debit card was declined in a Moroccan medina whilst on holiday in a five-star luxury resort, Rachel began to suspect that her increasingly mysterious friend was not all she seemed.

This is the incredible story of how Anna Sorokin conned the high-rollers of the NYC social scene and convinced her close friend of an entirely concocted fantasy, the product of falsified bank documents, bad cheques and carefully edited online photos.

Written by Rachel DeLoache Williams, the Vanity Fair photography editor who believed Anna’s lies before helping the police to track her down (fittingly, deciphering Anna’s location using Instagram), this is Catch Me If You Can with Instagram filters. Between Anna, Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland (Anna even tried to scam Billy) and Elizabeth Holmes, whose start-up app duped the high and mighty of Silicon Valley, this is the year of the scammer.

Publisher Review

Paints a fascinating picture of an eccentric egomaniac who rails against all authority...it's gripping stuff. * Sunday Times * My Friend Anna is sensational. * Bustle * Explosive ... Definitely one for the beach. * Elle * My Friend Anna is the dishy story you've been craving ever since Anna Delvey first made headlines... a harrowing account of what it's like to be conned. * Refinery29 * Beach reads should be light, fun, and serve a lot dish. That's why number one on my summer reading list is My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress by Rachel DeLoache Williams. * Town & Country * ...the Sorokin scam [has] everything: glamour, greed, lust for power, great clothes (or at least expensive ones), rich people being ripped off, cameos by fellow millennial con artists like "Pharma Bro" and the Fyre Festival organizers, and lots of satisfying cliches about the rotten core of the Big Apple. * The New York Times * It is everything I wanted it to be and more. A deep dive around New York's coolest bars and hippest hangouts and a tale of two girls that blurs the lines between friend and freelancer. * Red * An intimate, methodical look at the pair's relationship. * The Skinny * Addictive * i * Gripping * Sunday Mirror * Totally gripping ... impossible to put down for the duration, My Friend Anna is undeniably one of the summer's most compelling reads. * Sunday Business Post * A powerful reminder that you should think twice before trusting even your friends with large sums of money. * Money Week *