Bella Donna (novel)

Bella Donna is a 1909 British romance novel by the British writer Robert Hichens.

Summary

A flighty young Englishwoman marries an Egyptologist. Once on the archaeological site she falls for a suave Egyptian, and plots to do away with her husband.

Reception

It was listed among the top six bestselling books in the United States in the December 1909 (ranked sixth) and January 1910 (ranked second) issues of The Bookman.<Ref name="Dec1909">Best Selling Books, The Bookman, December 1909, p. 434</ref><Ref name="jan1910">Best Selling Books, The Bookman, January 1910, p. 546</ref>

Adaptations

It has been made into films on four occasions:

• Bella Donna (1915 film), an American silent film starring Pauline Frederick
• Bella Donna (1923 film), an American silent film starring Pola Negri
• Bella Donna (1934 film), a British film starring Conrad Veidt
• Temptation (1946 film), an American film starring Merle Oberon

References

Bibliography

• Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
• Kotowski, Mariusz. Pola Negri: Hollywood's First Femme Fatale. University Press of Kentucky, 2014.