Monday, November 4, 2013

Five of the best historical novels about prostitutes

Emma Donoghue's novels include Room, The Sealed Letter, Landing, Life Mask, Slammerkin, Hood and Stir-fry; short-story collections Astray, Three and a Half Deaths (UK ebook), Touchy Subjects, The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits, and Kissing the Witch; and literary history including Inseparable, We Are Michael Field, and Passions Between Women as well as two anthologies that span the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. Frog Music, her new novel, comes out in Spring 2014.

At The Daily Beast Donoghue tagged five of the best historical fictions about the oldest profession, including:
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor

This bodice-ripper about Restoration England, banned in fourteen US states, was the bestselling novel in 1940s America. Published at almost a thousand pages, it had been edited down from a manuscript five times as long. A meaty story of one woman trading her way up a ladder of men while saving her heart for one, it’s a richly satisfying, read, and contains the most memorable scenes of the Great Fire and Plague that I’ve encountered.
Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue