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A review by apechild
Courtesans by Katie Hickman
5.0
My 2007 bookcrossing review:
This was an absolutely fantastic read. A look into a side of history from this period that you sometimes could forget existed (getting lost in Jane Austen world).
The book is like a collection of biographies on five of the most well-known British courtesans from the 17 and 1800s, all from different backgrounds, getting into prostitution for different reasons and having different experiences.
1. Sophia Baddeley - going from actress to courtesan, and having a very serious spending problem. And an interesting relationship with Mrs Steele who lived with her for a long time almost like a paid companion - also jealous and a bit of a control-freak. And ended up publishing her memoirs on Sophia's life. Something reminiscent there of the relationship in Notes on a Scandal
2. Elizabeth Armistead - actually a really sweet story of her relationship with the politician Mr Fox - so genuine it could restore your faith in the fact that there are decent people out there.
3. Harriette Wilson - Having seen her parents' miserable marriage together, she went into this trade out of choice in order to be an independant woman.
4. Cora Pearl - extravagant, flamboyant and to be honest, a bit of an exhibitionist - brit living in Paris, not the most attractive woman ever, but very successful at what she did.
5. Catherine Walters - very keen on her horses and hunting, successful... bit dull out of the five to be honest.
The double standards are frustrating - the fact that women were either in one land (good, righteous wife - or timid chaste girl - never having any sexual desires) or the prostitute on whatever level - and women from either side could never have anything to do with one another and could never go to the places where one type of woman went. And yet men, from all levels of society could hop from one land to the other as and when and this was perfectly acceptable!
You could get a little bit of a rose tinted view of the sex trade from this book I think though. Because despite these "success" stories, imagine the hundreds and thousands of women working as prostitutes who would have been used and abused and lived in poverty all their lives.
This was an absolutely fantastic read. A look into a side of history from this period that you sometimes could forget existed (getting lost in Jane Austen world).
The book is like a collection of biographies on five of the most well-known British courtesans from the 17 and 1800s, all from different backgrounds, getting into prostitution for different reasons and having different experiences.
1. Sophia Baddeley - going from actress to courtesan, and having a very serious spending problem. And an interesting relationship with Mrs Steele who lived with her for a long time almost like a paid companion - also jealous and a bit of a control-freak. And ended up publishing her memoirs on Sophia's life. Something reminiscent there of the relationship in Notes on a Scandal
2. Elizabeth Armistead - actually a really sweet story of her relationship with the politician Mr Fox - so genuine it could restore your faith in the fact that there are decent people out there.
3. Harriette Wilson - Having seen her parents' miserable marriage together, she went into this trade out of choice in order to be an independant woman.
4. Cora Pearl - extravagant, flamboyant and to be honest, a bit of an exhibitionist - brit living in Paris, not the most attractive woman ever, but very successful at what she did.
5. Catherine Walters - very keen on her horses and hunting, successful... bit dull out of the five to be honest.
The double standards are frustrating - the fact that women were either in one land (good, righteous wife - or timid chaste girl - never having any sexual desires) or the prostitute on whatever level - and women from either side could never have anything to do with one another and could never go to the places where one type of woman went. And yet men, from all levels of society could hop from one land to the other as and when and this was perfectly acceptable!
You could get a little bit of a rose tinted view of the sex trade from this book I think though. Because despite these "success" stories, imagine the hundreds and thousands of women working as prostitutes who would have been used and abused and lived in poverty all their lives.