Beauty Alone Doesn't Do It Bonn General Anzeiger By Christian Fuchs At her reading at the Bouvier book store in Bonn, Eleanor Herman tells the tale of royal mistresses. Bonn.  Once upon a time there were two sisters.  The one was beautiful but incredibly stupid.  The other was intelligent, eloquent and warm hearted, but so disgustingly ugly that no one could discover her wonderful qualities.  One day a prince came into their land...  Well, Eleanor Herman's debut book doesn't tell the fairy tale quite so black and white. In her new book, that was presented in the Bouvier book store, the American author and journalist Eleanor Herman examines the lives of royal mistresses at European courts.  Mistresses seduced and bewitched, but not only through their beauty.  At least as important were wit, charm, and intelligence.  Certainly Herman is working with good material, but her expedition through several centuries of European royalty offers rich opportunities for anecdotes of all sorts.  Her work is not just superficial entertainment. She does not spare the reader the sad stories and fates.  Hermans shows us that behind their masks of beaming happiness, they suffered deeply and were required to give up all their own needs.  She handles not only the peak of the mistresses' lives, but also their existence afterward.  Eleanor Herman's work is simultaneously entertaining and educational; easy to read yet based on solid historical research. True to her theme, the author of German descent offered her audience at the Bouvier bookstore something for the ear and for the eye.  She wore a gown of red velvet from the time of Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henri II.  Her good German with a charming American accent was also enjoyable.  She is already working on her next book.  It is called -- balancing the scales -- In Bed with the Queen. Return to the reviews page.