Customer Reviews

Woman of Ill Fame

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of those start-in-early-afternoon and-read-til-5 AM books. And I had to be at work the next day. The historical atmosphere is so rich, and the main character Nora is such a treat, you just don't want to come back to modern times. Talk about a woman who defies every stereotype of the prostitute yet feels like a real lady from Gold Rush times. I was shivering in my seat as the tragedies kept creeping closer to the protagonist. The leading man also defies every stereotype. Take Peirce Brosnan and go to the opposite pole, and that's the guy we fall in love with, and for precisely that reason. Highly recommended!

I have been reading Erika Mailman's history column in the Montclarion newspaper for years and have always enjoyed her attention to historical detail as well as her topics of Oakland history. I picked up a copy of this book and read the whole thing in two sittings...a record for someone with such a short attention span. Her characters are (properly) likable and dislikable. The historical details that she weaves in the story do not come off as a dry history lesson, but as details of the story that she is telling. I certainly have a new understanding of the way Gold Rush SF really was rather than a simple blanket view of what we usually read about or see on TV.

Anyone with an interest in California history would certainly be doing themselves a favor by reading this book. Very well done.

I just finished reading this novel and I really loved it! The author did an amazing job -- combining history, sex, feminist consciousness, and a mystery to boot! Brava! Brava!
Her salty, sassy language reflects the Barbary Coast of San Francisco from a gutsy woman's point of view.Is there a dictionary of such words that is particular to the era? It was funny/exactly right/ perfectly descriptive. Anyway, I loved the book -- already lent it to a friend (who also loved it), and have another bawdy friend I want to buy it for.

It is hard not to like Nora Simms as she plies her trade from San Francisco's notorious row cribs to the more lucrative and fashionable parlor catering to a different class of males. When she discovers that prostitutes being murdered at an alarming rate were all found with items of clothing which had been stolen from her, Nora realizes that she might be the sadistic muderer's next target. San Francisco's volunteer police force and even her fellow "soiled doves" dismiss her fears, leaving her to worry on her own about which of her many male "visitors" might be the one to fear.

Having Nora arrive fresh off the ship in the first chapter lets us experience the still primitive boomtown through the eyes of a newcomer. While goldrush era political events are interspersed throughout the story, Mailman's descriptions of San Francisco's physical and social life are better done - the harbor, the periodic fires, the windy ocean dunes, the multi-ethnic mix of people, the rising cost of scarce goods, the liberal use of opium, the accepted acts of violence revealed in vigilantism and cruel bear and bull baiting shows. Dominant, of course, is the problematic life of the endless supply of young women who swell the ranks of a group rarely written about - the women of ill fame. The reader even learns of the methods they used to satisfy their clients. As relevant is the extent to which the possibility of a quick accumulation of wealth (gold! gold! gold!) informs the sensibilities and actions of the city's inhabitants. Perhaps lawlessness was an inevitable result.

A list of sources, or page of background information, would have been welcome.

For as many books are written on the subject, you expect that every prostitute on the market has a heart of gold. Since such homogeneity is unfeasible, if not downright reductive--the population of soiled doves is surely as diverse as any other of society's phyla. Nora Simms, the protagonist of Erika Mailman's new novel, Woman of Ill Fame, is one of the kindest--and strongest--ladies of the evening in recent memory.

Nora's most memorable trait isn't her kindness, however. It's her frank acceptance of her situation, and her desire to make the most of it. She isn't squeamish about sex, takes pride in her physical gifts, works hard, and tells white lies to protect those she cares for. Arriving in San Francisco just after the Gold Rush has turned the city into a boomtown, Simms is shocked to discover a connection between her and a rash of murders. With considerable acuity she manages to protect her fellow prostitutes, duck the moral judgement of her landlord, elevate her status, find a suitor, all while trying to track down the vicious murderer.

Mailman seeds her historical research carefully, letting it bloom in just the right moments and measures. Woman of Ill Fame is a compulsively good portrait of vice, virtue, and early California.

These days, if you were to hear the expression "ill fame," you might conjure up the Us Weekly mug shot of some wannabe celebrity. But in the San Francisco of 150 years ago, terms like "ill fame" and "frail" were slurs branding a woman as a prostitute -- and, as such, crop up with colorful frequency in Oakland author Erika Mailman's seductive debut novel, Woman of Ill Fame.

Mailman deftly transports us back to a crazy boomtown San Francisco flooded with fortune seekers who indulge in the city's notorious sex scene and wince at the outrageous cost of housing. That might call to mind the dot-com silliness of the late '90s, but it's also a fair depiction of the city during the gold rush of 1849.

Woman of Ill Fame's narrator is 18-year-old Nora Simms, who sails into town from Boston to mine the miners of their paychecks by selling them a few minutes with her body. Don't expect any angst or apologies for this, though. Nora is no hooker with a heart of gold, and Mailman doesn't try to apply the mainstream, modern-day view of prostitution to a time and place whose inhabitants lacked our compassion -- or squeamishness. Instead, we're rooting for Nora as she starts at the bottom of the local sex trade in the disease-infested row of working-girl stalls nicknamed "the cowyard," daydreaming of the time when she'll ascend to an upscale parlor house where the women wear ornate gowns and adopt bogus French accents.

Nora's ambitions hit a snag, however, after the trunk containing all her worldly possessions is stolen. Worse still, the bodies of butchered prostitutes begin turning up around town, and each of the victims is found wearing an item of clothing from Nora's vanished trunk.

The whodunit aspect makes Woman of Ill Fame a page-turner, and Mailman manages to keep the reader guessing. Yet it's the depiction of early San Francisco that propels this thriller above its genre, in the manner of historical fiction such as Caleb Carr's The Alienist. While the serial killer plot fuels the ride, the rich historical details take command of our senses, transporting us backward in time to step in the muddy streets and smell the stench of a city newly born.

As the author of two local-history books, Mailman has done the homework necessary to paint this vivid portrait. And as a fixture of the local writing scene, she has quietly and doggedly been honing her craft for more than a decade in places such as the San Francisco Writers Workshop. Now all that hard work is beginning to pay off, with Mailman emerging as a San Francisco author to watch. A second historical novel, The Witch's Trinity, is scheduled to come out in time for Halloween on Random House. Going from obscurity to two published novels in nine months is quite a feat -- and virtually unheard of. Clearly, Mailman's publishers are betting they've discovered new gold in San Francisco. *

[...].

Good novel with historical facts. Written from the perspective of a prostitute during the Gold Rush Days in San Francisco. Well written; gets you involved with the characters. Somewhat predictable ending, but it doesn't take away from the book as a whole.

I probably would not have noticed this book if I had not just read 'The Witches Trinity'. I enjoyed Mailman's writing so much in that so I bought this and I'm glad I did. Nora Simms is not your heart-of-gold prostitue but a vivid, interesting character. The lived-happily-ever-after ending is a little tacky therefore 4 stars but a very enjoyable read. We're going to have to overwork Mailman for more books.

Here in the Bay Area, Erika Mailman is a very popular local author for her fabulous history column and many historical publications based on Oakland, CA. A departure from her nonfiction books, "Woman of Ill Fame" is a her first published novel and this book was such a delight to read that I am compelled to post my first review on Amazon. I simply couldn't put this book down and stayed up to the wee hours reading twist after turn in this enjoyable and gratifying story! Mailman's novel has a little bit of everything: sex and romance, murder and mystery, as well as, a historical sense of place and a unique cast of intriguing and endearing characters.

As a historical researcher, Mailman's knack for rich detail makes Gold Rush era San Francisco just spring to life from the pages of this book! Mailman deftly captures the Wild West atmosphere with gritty realism (e.g. in one scene, the protagonist Nora describes, with historic accuracy, the tragic fate of young Chinese sex slaves caged in Opium dens). At the same time, Mailman conveys a realistic sense of opportunity that "uncivilized" California afforded so many early settlers. It's no surprise that California granted women the vote long before the rest of the Union. Mailman's tact for era-appropriate dialogue is also worth noting - it's the perfect balance and never feels contrived. If you enjoyed similar elements of realism in HBO's series "Deadwood," you will enjoy this book - pick up your copy today!

One more thing: Like many of the novels characters, the story's protagonist Nora Simms is refreshing and quirky. At times while reading this book, Nora's internal dialogue on gender relations literally made me laugh out loud! Mailman doesn't rely on overdone hooker cliches and presents young feminist female readers with a character that we can identify with. With a deconstructionist lens, this exploited Gold Rush era sex worker becomes a strong, sexually empowered, and financially independent multi-dimensional character, who is reluctant to relinquish her feedoms for marriage despite the social stigmas of her day. Nora feels very human - complete with flaws and rationalizations, moral flexibilities and insightful wit. I hope we'll see Nora Simms again in a sequel by Mailman!

I read a book a week on average and this is by far my favorite in a long, long time. The author is a master of history and story telling. Nora is the most lively, complex and funny heroine. The story moves fast and is full of surprises and humor. Nora is refreshingly real and it is so much fun to watch her struggle with various moral issues while doing her best to be true to herself. I have recommended "Woman of Ill Fame" to two of my clients and they have both told me they tremendously enjoyed the read. I can't recommend buying this book enough. I am eagerly awaiting Erica Mailman's next book. Wish she'd write a follow up to "Woman of Ill Fame. " I'd love to see the next chapter of Nora's life.