Slammerkin

by Emma Donoghue

Book Overview

From Emma Donoghue, the national bestselling author of Room, Slammerkin is "[a] colorful romp of a novel" ( The New York Times Book Review ) following one woman's journey of self-discovery and survival at the dawn of the industrial revolution in eighteenth century England. 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156007479
• ISBN13: 9780156007474
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Not Politically Correct

Mary is a teenager; readers should keep that in mind when reading Slammerkin. The era she lived in was not kind to women. Her philosophy of her world was a practical one. If she were born to be a successful business man, people would have admired her good sense. She was determined to succeed on her own terms. She wouldn't accept the fate offered to " decent " women. She had passion and strength. I believe her failing health lead her to her end. I was hoping she would become a successful Madam giving men what they are still willing to pay for. I will miss her.

A vivid glimpse into life during the 1760s...

Driven by greed over a simple red ribbon, 14-year-old Mary Saunders agrees to have sex with a London peddlar. A few months later, it's more than evident she's carrying more than a ribbon, and she's tossed out by her mother and stepfather. Although the family's life within their two-room cellar apartment was dismal and poverty-stricken, Mary realizes she at least had a place to stay and food to eat. She walks the streets, full of fear for her future. Then Mary meets Doll Higgins, a slightly older, but much more worldly, prostitute. Doll takes Mary in, both physically and emotionally, teaching Mary how to get along in rough London. She also teaches Mary that she's got something every man will pay to get, and if she plays her hand correctly, she'll be living the most wonderful life imaginable. Although Mary and Doll do have their wonderful times together, Mary learns that nothing comes without its price. Soon, she's alone again, and running for her life. Desperately, Mary recalls her mother's stories about growing up in a tiny village far from London, and decides to flee. Once in Monmouth, Mary arrives at the home of her mother's childhood friend Jane Jones, now a dressmaker. She feeds the family a sad story about her mother's deathbed desire for the Joneses to take her only child in as an apprentice, and full of pity for the young girl, they do just that. Life as a humble, underpaid servant, of course, is a far cry from the rich life to which Mary became accustomed with Doll. Still, there is a certain pleasure in the opportunity to recreate one's entire existence from a blank slate, which Mary is presented within the tiny community. But, as Mary discovers, it's hard to get away from one's old vices...even if they threaten to destroy your entire life.

A breathless, poignant page-turner

Born in 1748 London to a family that barely scrapes by, fourteen-year-old Mary Saunders possesses nothing that isn't gray or brown. She yearns for something more, though she's not worldly enough to know what the "something" is until a simple red ribbon, suspended in the folds of a peddler's coat, inspires in her a need so great that she allows herself to be raped in payment for it. As a result of the encounter, Mary becomes pregnant and is banished from her home and family for her shame. Further brutalized in a gutter on her first night on her own, Mary is rescued by Doll, a prostitute who lacks morals but not kindness. Almost inevitably, the unskilled Mary becomes a prostitute under the tutelage of Doll. She's soon seduced by the money she can earn and the colorful clothes that money buys, as well as by her newfound "freedom." Plying "the trade" on the dirty and pitiless streets of London, Mary grows up fast. She develops a knack for reading people and manipulating them; yet, emotionally, she remains a child, tender and disastrously confused. Eventually, a series of misfortunes sends Mary fleeing from London for her life. She travels to distant Monmouth, where her parents had met before leaving to seek their fortunes in London. Concocting a story about her "dead" mother's last wish, Mary secures a place in the household of her mother's erstwhile best friend, a dressmaker. For the first time in her life, Mary experiences a nurturing environment, has people who care about her. Although her arrogance wins her no friends amongst the other servants, she feels happy for a time and learns to be an excellent seamstress. But her old demons still haunt her. Her yearning for the fine garments and fine lives of her employer's clients becomes insufferable. She regresses and begins living the kind of double life that can't last in a small town. Emma Donoghue's richly-hued prose unflinchingly recreates the brutality and degradation of eighteenth-century London's seamy side. Her secondary characters are anything but secondary; many of them could respectably carry their own stories. Not being conversant in the history of this period, I can't speak to historical accuracy, but nothing struck me as shaky or implausible. It was all frighteningly real. Many of the editorial reviews excerpted on the cover of the trade paper edition contain phrases like "rollicking romp," "swoon of a novel," and "costume drama." Those are terms to be applied to a Regency romance; they are an insult to this dark, tragic story and its deeply conflicted heroine. I don't think the reviewers who made those comments actually read the book. It kept me turning pages and reading far into the night, because I saw the kernel of good in Mary and kept hoping she'd get some sense and do something right just once. Turn her life around. But she consistently botched her opportunities, achingly intent on self-destruction.

A New Literary Classic is Born -- Worth 6 Stars

Life was hard back in the era Ms. Donoghue is writing about, folks. In fact, it was more than hard -- it was a nightmare ninety-nine percent of the time, especially for women and the poor. If you're expecting a larkish or sexy romp through Jolly Olde England, look elsewhere. This book will slice you to the bone.This book affected me so deeply that I finished it days ago, yet I am still haunted by it. Ms. Donoghue has created a tale that is absolutely SOAKED in unflinching truth. Her historical detail is so fascinating and at times, properly horrifying, that you will be shaken to your soul, yet you will not be able to look away.The many themes skillfully woven throughout the book are powerful: mother-daughter ironies, the issues of slavery and servitude, injustice, the servitude of women, sexual politics, poverty, the haves versus the have-nots, humanity's general cruelty -- each issue is skillfully explored without one hint of judgement or preachiness. In fact, this book is all about the story; nothing more, nothing less.Mary herself is an enigma. Why did she make the choices she did; what made her so strong that she tried to create a new pattern for her life? Was she insane when she committed her crime? Did her lifetime of gruesome, heart-wrenching experiences cause her to lose her mind?The final scene of the book is so powerful that I am getting shivers just thinking about it. I wish I could explain what makes this novel so very compelling; but I don't have the words for it. All I can say is that here is a shimmering treasure of a novel. Pass it up and you'll be missing a rare opportunity to be one of the first readers of what is sure to become a classic for centuries to come.

Bold and Brutal

This is a novel about a female prostitute in 1760's London. It describes how she gets into the trade, what the trade is like, her failed attempts to get out of the trade, and eventually her untimely, bitter demise at the less-than-ripe old age of 16. It is a superb piece of fiction, perhaps the best I have read this year. It is told in the third person and primarily from the view of the protagonist, Mary Saunders, who is being raised in dreary London by her seamstress mother and coal-mining step-father. Life in this era, particularly for the working poor, was unrelentingly difficult, dirty, and unrewarding. Simply for the want of some color in her life--a red ribbon--Mary allows herself to be used by the grizzly peddler who owns it, and her resulting pregnancy causes her desperately poor parents to throw her out on the street. It is here that she is brutally introduced to the life of a prostitute, in a vivid and horrifying scene. The historical detail is outstanding. For example, we learn that Mary's father died from "gaol fever" after being incarcerated for taking part in the "calendar riots." These riots were in protest of the English government's decision to move the calendar ahead eleven days to bring it into conformity with the rest of Europe. They took place because many Londoners thought they were losing eleven days of their lives! How clever of the author to incorporate this little-known event into her story. Here's another tidbit, after the girls witness a group hanging: "Bodies sprawled on the dusty ground, with ruby necklace-prints around their throats. The surgeon's boys, being entitled by law to all Tyburn cadavers, ran in while Turlis and his men beat the families off with sticks. Those in the crowd afflicted by warts snatched at the still-warm hands to rub them on their faces." The novel is loaded with gripping, informative scenes such as this. So Mary begins her life as a prostitute, and as dreary and degrading as this is, she does find that she enjoys the freedom of it, and gets to wear the fine clothes she has always desired. But sickness causes her to seek redemption, at the Magdalen Society, and after another slip up, she finally ends up as a servant in her aunt's home in far away and provinicial Monmouth, where the majority of the novel takes place. She tries, oh she tries, but again she comes to the bleak recognition that in order to have a life of order and cleanliness she must submit herself to dreary, monotonous, repetitive hard work--the only acceptable fate for a girl of her social status. She goes back to her old ways, and brings disaster on all. I mentioned earlier the sharp historical detail to be found in this novel, but perhaps even more compelling are its finely-drawn characterizations. All of the minor character studies are believable and interesting, but none more so than the incredibly complex central character, Mary. Her initial motivation is something we can all empathize with--the simp

outstanding

Here's why this is the best book I've read recently: it's an engaging read (I was sad to finish the book), it's historical fiction, written so well the reader feels as if she's living in the 18th century, the "anti-heroine" is an interesting, complex figure (she does awful things, but she remains sympathetic), and the secondary characters are wonderfully drawn as well. Finally, while the subject matter isn't light, the author treats the story matter-of-factly, avoiding the usual melodrama that can be found in many novels published today. Bottom line in my humble opinion: a fascinating, engaging, stimulating read.