When vice had a legal home and jazz was being born—the captivating story of an infamous true-life madam
New Orleans, 1900. Mary Deubler makes a meager living as an “alley whore.” That all changes when bible-thumping Alderman Sidney Story forces the creation of a red-light district that’s mockingly dubbed “Storyville.” Mary believes there’s no place for a lowly girl like her in the high-class bordellos of Storyville’s Basin Street, where Champagne flows and beautiful girls turn tricks in luxurious bedrooms. But with gumption, twists of fate, even a touch of Voodoo, Mary rises above her hopeless lot to become the notorious Madame Josie Arlington.
Filled with fascinating historical details and cameos by Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and E. J. Bellocq, Madam is a fantastic romp through The Big Easy and the irresistible story of a woman who rose to power long before the era of equal rights.
I truly loved this book. The authors take you inside the life of a prostitute in New Orleans in the late 1800's. I actually learned a lot about this fascinating world. Although the story is called Madam, it really tells the story of Mary Deubler up until she became Josie Arlington, the madam. It stops before her life as a madam really began. I would love, love, love to read a sequel- to see what her life was like as madam and how it changed. This is a fascinating look at a different side of New Orleans . It was very hard to put down.
Read this book if:
*You love novels set in New Orleans
*you love stories of Storyville and the seedier side of the city
*you love historical fiction with a true basis
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