A true story of a high-class hooker I interviewed as a journalist in Cape Town 30 years ago. Names, places and some details have been altered to protect her and her family’s privacy:
Sophia Huston eldest daughter of a wealthy Sydney family is intelligent, shrewd and absolutely stunning. She plans to work at the UN or operate as a foreign Ambassador.
Unable to have children, she forsakes marriage and is driven to be a business success. After graduating from university, her mother suddenly dies, leaving Sophia and her troubled younger sister to deal with their struggling father.
Within 12 months, his global empire is bankrupt. With no money and no means to pay her way, Sophia devises a plan with the support of her father’s close business associate, Giles Hamilton, who grooms her into a paid-for secret transactional affair. Mega wealthy Giles secretly gifts Sophia his Sydney penthouse, where she charges seven powerful clients for her services. They come from old money and new, as long as they have significant wealth and fit her exacting criteria.
Sophia camouflages her activity with an Interior Design career and partnership with her close confident and gay friend, Florian Fabre. None of her clients know about one another and gladly pay a $3,000 monthly retainer and a further $6,000 per night. Most live overseas, and each client visits her about once every four weeks.
Sophia has become an independent high-class hooker, covert, confidential and fluent in five languages. Her clients fly her to luxurious holiday resorts, exclusive hotels, buying her expensive jewellery, clothing and gifts which are showered on this angelic-looking young consort. Her expensive dress and high-class upbringing mask her secret activity. To safeguard her private affairs, she initiates contracts with her clients outlining their exclusive rights and securing confidentiality for all concerned.
She discovers one of her clients is practising tax evasion and decides to photograph content from his briefcase for future bargaining. Her brother-in-law threatens to expose her and the private activities of several global businessmen which creates a series of obstacles she needs to overcome. Highly organised, Sophia maintains a sophisticated dressing room with eight double-door wardrobes, one for each of her clients. Their details and individual gifts, which she sets up in the apartment, support each man’s willing suspension of disbelief that he is her only lover.
She becomes the singular mistress to them all. Her sister dies, and Sophia, at 33-years old, adopts her orphaned four-month-old nephew and decides to settle down. One of her clients, a wealthy Kiwi electronics businessman, has fallen in love with her and professes his desire to marry.
After many twists and turns, including the impact of Covid-19, Sophia turns her back on her business and marries her Kiwi lover, settling happily in New Zealand.
As a lecturer in the Language and Literature Department at the University of Cape Town, I keep up to date with world-literature, which introduces me to many varied authors.
After reading ‘Duplicity,’ it has confirmed that Nicky Webber, is by far, my favourite author of 2020.
To-date I have read four of Webber’s novels: “No Ordinary Man” and two volumes of “In The Deep End.” Her new book “Duplicity” is racier than the others.
I loved each of her books, but I would like to suggest that like good wine, Webber is getting better with each novel.
About the book:
‘Duplicity’s main character is Sophia. On the first page, she is introduced as a child of two self-absorbed narcissists living in Sydney, Australia.
In the first few chapters, I resented her and was not sure if I wanted to know more about her. Still, as I was fascinated by her unique character, I decided to read a couple of chapters and within a couple of episodes, as Sophia’ grows up’, and her life unfolds I became engrossed in the story, and could not let put the book down. Amazing story-line, intriguing details and set right at our time. Yes, in 2020. ‘Duplicity’ is a page-turner.
For once, I didn’t mind the Covid’s lock-down as it allowed me to drop everything else and read ‘Duplicity’ with no interruptions.
If a reader is looking for an exciting subject, racy description, total fun and fascination, to be wholly absorbed and have a good time – ‘Duplicity’ is your book.
