The other is an Indian girl named Priya, newly freed from the clutches of Madame’s nemesis and business rival Peter Bantle. One of them is Merry Lee, who famously risks her life to liberate women who’ve been condemned to the lowest rung of prostitution in the ‘cribs’ by the docks. But their cosy domestic arrangement is altered for good one night, when two young women turn up, exhausted and wounded, at Madame’s front door. She’s in the comfortable position of being in a house, not on the street: one of a colourful cast of young woman under the leadership of the redoubtable Madame Damnable.
This hard-boiled young woman is making a living for herself in the upper echelons of the flesh trade in Rapid City (based on Seattle Underground). Bear never lets her slip out of character once and there are some wonderful phrases: ‘Miss Francina went striding out into that burning cold in her negligee and marabou slippers like she owned the night and the rest of us were just paying rent on it‘, for example, or the occasional use of the fantastic word ‘ cattywumpus‘, which it is now my mission to sneak into a conversation somehow. I pay my sewing machine tax to the city, which is fifty dollar a week, and they don’t care if your sewing machine’s got a foot treadle, if you take my meaning.įrom the opening lines, Karen’s voice is as individual and consistent as they come, her jauntiness ringing off the ear. See, my name is Karen Memery, like “memory” only spelt with an e, and I’m one of the girls what works in the Hôtel Mon Cherie on Amity Street … I guess that makes me a seamstress, just like Beatrice and Miss Francina and Pollywog and Effie and all the other girls. You ain’t gonna like what I have to tell you, but I’m gonna tell you anyway.
This delicious adventure takes all the elements of a good cowboy yarn – the tall, dark stranger from out of town the slimy businessman who fancies himself as mayor the plucky girls from the local brothel and reimagines them in a feisty, female-driven romp with a brilliantly diverse cast. However, I’ve kicked things off with this standalone novel, best described as Western steampunk noir. I have all three of her Eternal Sky books, which I’m hoarding for a moment when I fancy a good solid dose of Genghis-Khan-inspired fantasy (which, to be fair, is always). Elizabeth Bear has been on my radar since Heloise introduced me to the startling Iskryne books that she co-authored with Sarah Monette, although her solo work has (so far) been of a less blush-inducing stamp.
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