Washington Square Press
The Madam
Regular price
$21.95
Shipping calculated at checkout.
The Madam
Author(s): Julianna Baggott
West Virginia, 1924: Alma works in a hosiery mill where the percussive roar of machinery has far too long muffled the engine that is her heart. When Alma's husband decides that they should set out to find their fortune in Florida, Alma has little choice but to leave her three children and ailing mother behind. But when Alma is then abandoned at a Miami dock, she is suddenly forced to make her own way in the world. With the help of a gentle giantess and an opium-addicted prostitute, Alma reclaims her children from the orphanage and forges ahead with an altogether new sort of family. As an act of survival, she chooses to run a house of prostitution, a harvest that relies on lust and weakness in men, of which "the world has a generous, unending supply."
The Madam is the story of a house of sin. It is here where Alma's children will learn everything there is to know about "love and loss, sex and betrayal." Based on the real life of the author's grandmother, The Madam is a tale of epic proportions, one that will haunt readers long after its stunning conclusion.
Review(s):
A jazzy, soaring tale....gorgeously screaming to be heard.
"Beautifully rendered, this story is as brave and unique and full of surprises as the madam portrayed within it."
"Deeply satisfying....poetic...brilliantly charged images [and] moments of intense beauty."
ISBN: 9780743454582
Author(s): Julianna Baggott
West Virginia, 1924: Alma works in a hosiery mill where the percussive roar of machinery has far too long muffled the engine that is her heart. When Alma's husband decides that they should set out to find their fortune in Florida, Alma has little choice but to leave her three children and ailing mother behind. But when Alma is then abandoned at a Miami dock, she is suddenly forced to make her own way in the world. With the help of a gentle giantess and an opium-addicted prostitute, Alma reclaims her children from the orphanage and forges ahead with an altogether new sort of family. As an act of survival, she chooses to run a house of prostitution, a harvest that relies on lust and weakness in men, of which "the world has a generous, unending supply."
The Madam is the story of a house of sin. It is here where Alma's children will learn everything there is to know about "love and loss, sex and betrayal." Based on the real life of the author's grandmother, The Madam is a tale of epic proportions, one that will haunt readers long after its stunning conclusion.
Review(s):
A jazzy, soaring tale....gorgeously screaming to be heard.
"Beautifully rendered, this story is as brave and unique and full of surprises as the madam portrayed within it."
"Deeply satisfying....poetic...brilliantly charged images [and] moments of intense beauty."
ISBN: 9780743454582