The Crimson Petal and the White
Michel Faber
Michel Faber
This hefty tome tells the tale of Sugar, a Victorian prostitute. Although the novels principal protagonist is Sugar the narration touches upon the lives of the characters who appear on the peripheries of Sugar's life. The narration is intrusive, with our omniscient, yet absent, narrator frequently referring to us as "Dear Reader". 'The Crimson Petal and the White' has been called the novel that Dickens would have written if he could... high praise indeed.
Sugar is labelled as the prostitute who would do *anything* her clients may request. Yet she is not an uneducated woman, and is only a fallen woman due to her mother pushing her over the precipice into prostitution at the tender age of thirteen. Sugar dreams of improving her status in the world, and is the authoress of a vicious novel consisting of several gory man-slaughters (man being the key word). She believes the only way she will escape the whorehouse is by her own intelligence, until she meets William Rackham....
This is a wonderfully involving book, and includes a fantastic portrayal of the various versions of the Victorian female- pious and hysterical (Agnes Rackham), worthy yet blasphemous (Emmeline Fox), and of course, the whore (Sugar). The page count and the sheer weight of the book is intimidating, but don't be afraid to give it a go, for I'm almost sure you'll enjoy it.
Buy it here from www.waterstones.com or from your local bookshop.
(Thanks to Mel for recommending and purchasing a copy for me, I owe you one.)
Sugar is labelled as the prostitute who would do *anything* her clients may request. Yet she is not an uneducated woman, and is only a fallen woman due to her mother pushing her over the precipice into prostitution at the tender age of thirteen. Sugar dreams of improving her status in the world, and is the authoress of a vicious novel consisting of several gory man-slaughters (man being the key word). She believes the only way she will escape the whorehouse is by her own intelligence, until she meets William Rackham....
This is a wonderfully involving book, and includes a fantastic portrayal of the various versions of the Victorian female- pious and hysterical (Agnes Rackham), worthy yet blasphemous (Emmeline Fox), and of course, the whore (Sugar). The page count and the sheer weight of the book is intimidating, but don't be afraid to give it a go, for I'm almost sure you'll enjoy it.
Buy it here from www.waterstones.com or from your local bookshop.
(Thanks to Mel for recommending and purchasing a copy for me, I owe you one.)
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