|
 
$7.95
Used Hardcover
Ships in 1 to 3 days
More copies of this ISBNThis title in other editions
eBook editionsSlammerkinby Emma Donoghue
Synopses & ReviewsFrom Powells.com:In Shaw's celebrated play Pygmalion, professor Higgins claims that in the intricacies of the British class system, speech is everything. For Mary Saunders, the heroine of Emma Donoghue's excellent third novel Slammerkin, it's clothes. As a girl, the promise of a pretty ribbon is enough to lure young Mary into prostitution, and on the harsh streets of 18th-century London she learns the rules of survival: Never give up your liberty. Clothes make the woman. Clothes are the greatest lie ever told. But the inherent contradictions in these rules make life difficult for a woman, especially one who longs to improve her lot in life. In the end, Mary is forced to make an untenable choice and is led to ruin (this is the 18th century). Atmospheric, intelligent, lyrical, and compelling, Slammerkin poses postmodern questions about class and gender as well as age-old questions about the human heart. Farley, Powells.com Publisher Comments:Slammerkin: A loose gown; a loose woman. Born to rough cloth in Hogarth's London, but longing for silk, Mary Saunders's eye for a shiny red ribbon leads her to prostitution at a young age. A dangerous misstep sends her fleeing to Monmouth, and the position of household seamstress, the ordinary life of an ordinary girl with no expectations. But Mary has known freedom, and having never known love, it is freedom that motivates her. Mary asks herself if the prostitute who hires out her body is more or less free than the "honest woman" locked into marriage, or the servant who runs a household not her own? And is either as free as a man? Ultimately, Mary remains true only to the three rules she learned on the streets: Never give up your liberty. Clothes make the woman. Clothes are the greatest lie ever told. Review:"Donoghue shows her mastery of eighteenth-century England and epic storytelling....[A] serious but suspenseful and even entertaining novel....What is most amazing is Donoghue's capacity for tackling weighty issues (prostitution, crime, and slavery) while avoiding didacticism." Booklist Review:"This boldly imagined historical fiction...represents a quantum leap forward....Donoghue has triumphantly reimagined the life of a real historical figure of whom nothing is known beyond [a] few facts....Irresistible, and deeply satisfying. Donoghue has surpassed herself." Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Review:"An absorbing, moving, and intelligent work of fiction....An exhilarating dialogue with the literature of the period and an imaginative attempt to capture the climate of change in the 1760s. Donoghue's writing is suffused with sensuality and sharp emotion." The Times Literary Supplement (London) Synopsis:Inspired by a teenage girl who murdered her mistress in 1763 because she "longed for fine clothes", "Slammerkin" is the bestselling classic story of a lower-class Roxana, a female Tom Jones.
About the AuthorEMMA DONOGHUE was born in Dublin in 1969 and earned her Ph.D. at Cambridge. A novelist, playwright, and historian whose other works of fiction include Stir-Fry, Hood, and a collection of fairy tales, Kissing the Witch, she lives in Ontario, Canada. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
Other books you might like
Related SubjectsFiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
|
|||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
Follow us on...
|
||||||||||
Don't Miss
