Slammerkin

By Emma Donoghue

Born to rough cloth in working-class London in 1748, Mary Saunders hungers for velvet and lace—a desire that leads her to a life of prostitution, where she encounters a freedom unknown to virtuous young women. In the end, it is clothes, their splendour and their deception, that bring Mary to the brink of disaster. Slammerkin is both a brilliant evocation of another era and a timeless tale of the rage of adolescence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781443439855

Emma Donoghue

Born in Ireland, national bestselling author EMMA DONOGHUE spent many years in England and now lives in Canada. Her books include Room (basis for the Oscar-nominated film), Slammerkin, and The Pull of the Stars. Her novels have been translated into eight languages.

Reviews for Slammerkin

[rdra1962 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Similar to The Dress Lodger and The Crimson The Petal and The White, based on scant historical facts. Avery unlikable heroine. The lack of facts would have allowed the author to create a more sympathetic main character, or at least one with understandable motives....

[aliastori · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Out of the ordinary and engrossing.

[pictou_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Historical fiction, fairly true to 18th century time. A slight whiff of Margaret Atwood.

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

By no means an easy read, but a brilliantly written novel based on the life of Mary Saunders, executed in 1764 for the murder of her employer.

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is the mid-1700s in London, England. Mary is only 14 years old when she is raped, becomes pregnant, and is kicked out of her house. Mary has nowhere to go and is beaten on the streets. She is nursed back to health by Doll, a prostitute. Once she is better, there really isn't much else Mary can do to support herself besides become a prostitute herself. I really liked this. It did slow down a bit in the middle for me, but that turned out to be some really good setup for the ending that I didn't really expect. I was also surprised to learn that Mary was based on a real person - I always apprecicate historical notes at the end.

[lukes_171461 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Emma Donoghue does a very, very good job of presenting this sad case history. It portrays the inhumanity men show to those less able or unable to protect and provide for themselves.I wonder at the uses to which Ms. Donoghue puts her considerable powers. There are those who would say, "What would be a better use?" and I cannot answer them. I do honor this author's skill; the story beat me down.

[lkernagh · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While Donoghue has done a fantastic job weaving a story from a scant few historical news items – Mary Saunders was a real person who lived a tempestuous short life – I was not overly taken with this story. Yes, the details about 1760’s London life from the view of a streetwalker are well captured, but I found Mary to be a very unlikable anti-heroine (which is probably the point). Did she deserve all that she endured as a teen? Maybe not everything but her fixation to possess fine things (like a magpie being attracted to shiny things) is something I just cannot relate to, especially as it was an overwhelming desire to own a red ribbon that set her on her course of ruin. There is a distinct calculated coldness to Mary that is off-putting. Maybe her experiences as a street walker while still a mere chit of a girl hardened her but it wasn’t long before my compassionate side gave up feeling sorry for her. Also, the numerous lurid sex act details and overall debauchery of Mary’s Seven Dials life shared with her friend Doll got to be a bit much. Yes, it was refreshing to hope that Mary’s departure from London to Monmouth would bring a change for the better and I admit, I didn’t expect the events in Monmouth to play out as they did so I have to give Donoghue some credit in finally bring the story around from its senseless wandering to a rather shocking climax. Overall, Donoghue’s story is a graphic, dark tale of a young woman trying (albeit only half-heartedly) to define who she is, but keeps being swayed by her own deeply ingrained preoccupation with fine clothes and fine living, things that she never does obtain. Personally, I would recommend Michael Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White over this story.

[deborahk_44 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nothing better has been written about the plight of women than this sad book about a teenage girl thrown from her home into prostitution. The story of Mary Saunders will stay with me. I loved Room and after this will definitely read everything that Emma Donoghue writes.

[atreic · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I think Room is an amazing book, so I was keen to read something else by Emma Donoghue. Unfortunately, this one didn't quite click for me. The book takes the story of a young woman (actually, she is less than 16 for the whole book) who falls into prostitution, and does give insight into why she does what she does. It's vaguely based on a true story. But I am just too fluffy, and like my books to have more redemption in them, I spent most of the second half of the book going 'oh, why would you do that?' and 'oh, you idiot!' Which is unfair on her, she's very young and life has dealt her a grim hand. [Not read as part of the miscarriage book project, but quite a lot of baby loss - both a chosen abortion, and a woman who has lost a lot of children, concieves again, but miscarries. ]I found the subplot about the black girl kept as a slave much more interesting than Mary's story, she was a more interesting and likable character.

[ameise1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Mary Saunders who lived in the middle of the 18th century. She grew up in London. Her mother mended laundry, her biological father was dead and her stepfather works with coal. Mary was fed up with poverty and decided to start a new life by working as a prostitute. She did not like this life too badly. She had Doll Higgins, who took her under her wing. When Mary Doll found herself dead in the oath of London and the landlady sent her the worst pimp in London, it was time for Mary to get out of London. She went to Monmouth, where her family came from. There she found a new home with a friend of her mother, who ran a tailor shop. Mary worked as a maid as well as a seamstress. At first she felt safe and thought she had found a good home until her old life caught up with her.This is a good story that describes life well at the time.

[marssie-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Predictable.

[catfantastic_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Slammerkin is a complex historical novel with a complex heroine. Gritty, depressing, horrible, the overall themes seem to be that ambition will just screw you over. But really, who can help wanting to better their lot in life? Mary Saunders is a fourteen year old girl when the novel begins, dissatisfied with her boring life on the edge of poverty in 1748 London. She hungers for beautiful clothes and riches and really, honestly, who wouldn't? I found myself identifying with her desire to better her lifestyle and rise above her lower-working class family. After all, if you only owned one dress and it was ugly and grey with holes in the pockets, wouldn't you dream of splendid ball gowns and such? After her mother and step-father beat her for losing a penny, Mary's drive for a better life than they can offer - a life of ruining her eyes as a seamstress - intensifies to the point where, for the want of a shiny red ribbon, fourteen year old Mary allows herself to be raped by a ribbon-trader in an ally. Life's lessons are cruel and - not only does she not get the red ribbon, she ends up pregnant, and her mother kicks her out of the house. Left to fend for herself, a defenseless child, that first night on the streets she is gang raped by a group of soldiers. This is all very difficult to read, but it's nothing that wouldn't have happened given the time period and Mary's circumstances.Mary's life is saved by beautiful, though gruesomely scarred, prostitute named Doll. Doll is an outgoing, friendly and vivacious personality, surprisingly generous to Mary. Doll takes Mary under her wing, nurses her back to health and then teaches her how to work the streets. At first, Mary insists that she will find honest, good work, but when she realizes who little any "honest" work pays, and how she can not even get hired without money for an apprenticeship, she resigns herself to the life of a prostitute, called a "slammerkin" because that is also the word for the loose-fitting dresses they wear. With Doll to keep her spirits up and make every night an entertaining adventure, Mary soon comes to relish the freedom and power of this new life, although it is made clear several times that she never gets any pleasure from her encounters, finds them distasteful, a necessary evil, disgusting. It's hard not to feel sorry for Mary, in these circumstances, but she is a very tough hard-hearted character. She is materialistic, ruthless and selfish - and these negative traits only intensify over time. Mary is not a character who wants your pity - she would laugh in your face and call you a fool if you offered it to her. When Doll dies she finds her life in danger and flees to Monmouth, the village where her mother was born. There she tricks her mother's childhood friend, Jane Jones, into taking her on as an apprentice dressmaker. Mrs. Jones is a kind-hearted woman who hires Mary on as a maid, but soon begins to treat her more as a daughter. Mary never loses the hard-edge about her, however - she resents servitude and the caste system into which she was born. Every time she mentions wanting to better herself or her ambitions, she is scorned and rebuffed. A modern reader should be able to identify with how maddening this must have been. She eventually begins prostituting herself again, to travelers at the local inn, to make more money for her envisioned triumphant return to London. After that, of course, it is only a matter of time before things blow up in her face - and when they do, they do so spectacularly, culminating with her robbing and murdering Mrs. Jones - a woman who loved her like a daughter.Mrs. Jones wasn't all saintly, however. When it came down to it, she was a coward who obeyed her husband even in things she did not morally agree with, such as beating Mary for laughing at a customer, and refusing to pay Abi (the Jones's black servant) any wages. And Mary displays a surprising sense of honor when she is apprehended for the murder and is asked several times if the Jones's black servant did it, or made her do it. She sees that she could get out of trouble by blaming Abi, and Mary had been a ruthless and selfish character up to this point, but this is a line she will not cross. And at that moment, she was a character I really respected."Mary caught a glimpse of escape. The lie that might save her; the syllable her life might hang on. Temptation opened like a chasm, dizzying. How easy it would be to give them what they wanted, to let them believe that Abi was at the back of it all...She was suddenly repelled by herself. Wasn't one killing enough for her? 'No,' she said, more firmly than before. (p. 308)In the end, it seems, it is the honesty of the character that dooms her, and has doomed her from the start. At the beginning of the story, when her mother finds out she is pregnant, she asks her daughter if the man had a knife and, rather than lie and say she was attacked, Mary confides that the man had a ribbon and she wanted it, thus she gets kicked out of the house. When she is in court at the end of the story, she is asked if she had any just motive for murdering Mrs. Jones and she begins to weave a lavish tale of abuse, but then ruins it by admitting that she killed her because she wanted the dress they had been making. For all of her deceitfulness (tricking Mrs. Jones into taking her in, for example) when it really matters, Mary seems incapable of understanding the societal conventions that, if she lied about, would save her. But then her inability to accept society is what made her want to better herself, get the riches and pretty gowns the nobles had, and her inability to just accept that some people were her "betters" just because of the luck of their birth. In the end I found myself surprised at how much sympathy I had for her as a character. Despite her hardness and selfishness (which were borne of necessity, really) she did stick to her own moral code and she displayed an ambitious drive which, in another time period, could have been rewarded rather than punished. Of course, she was wrong to murder Mrs. Jones, but she took responsibility for the crime, rather than taking the easy way out and blaming an innocent woman (Abi.) Emma Donoghue paints a vivid and detailed portrait of life for the poor and middle-class women in 18th century England, and Slammerkin. There are so many little details about clothes and scenery and such that it was all very vivid and realistic. I couldn't call Slammerkin an easy read, or even really an "enjoyable" one, since so much of what Mary lives with is so horrible...but it a good piece of historical fiction, well written, incredibly researched, an insightful (if horrific) look at 18th century life and a thought-provoking examination of human character.

[varielle_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Slammerkin is historical fiction set in 18th-century Britain. Mary is a young girl who gets pregnant from an assault. She is rejected by her family and falls into prostitution. After a series of misadventures, she deceives her mother's old friend into taking her in. Many people enjoyed this book however I was not one of them. The initial chapters were horrifically brutal. The sojourn in the middle is tediously bogged down. The ending devolves to the tone of the beginning. I wasn't in the mood to read something that would make me morbidly depressed so DNF and sent to a little free library. Good riddance.

[steve02476 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sad story, but a real page-turner. Very well done, I'm looking forward to reading more of Donoghue's work.

[icolford · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A stunning and mesmerizing work of imaginative reconstruction, Emma Donoghue’s novel Slammerkin (in 18th-century England the word referred to both “loose dress” and “loose woman”) tells the harrowing tale of a real historical figure named Mary Saunders, who was born into working-class destitution in 1740s London. Donoghue’s London, where Mary grows up, is a filthy, brutal, morally bankrupt place where poverty and privilege exist side by side, where the wealthy flaunt their finery and the poor scramble to survive by any means possible. Mary has no wish to follow her mother’s example and spend her days as a seamstress, condemned to a life of drudgery, working her fingers to the bone for peanuts. But she does develop a taste for fine clothes and garish colours, and at age 13 succumbs to temptation and barters her virginity on the street in exchange for a red ribbon. Turned out of home when she becomes pregnant, Mary finds herself with nothing of value but her own body, which, under the tutelage of a prostitute named Doll Higgins, she learns to exploit in order to make a living and dress herself up in style. Mary admires and seeks to emulate Doll’s world-weary cynicism and resourcefulness, but most of all she appreciates Doll’s independent spirit: her refusal to take orders from anyone. But eventually Mary tires of the demands of her “cullies” as well as the dangers and infections that street life exposes her to, and, in an attempt to straighten herself out, checks into a charity hospital. A few months later, clean finally, but still with no prospects, and recalling stories her mother had passed on to her about her own early life, Mary leaves London and follows the trail to Monmouth. Here she wangles her way with lies and pleading into the Jones household, old friends of her mother’s, taking a position as maid and, eventually, all-purpose assistant and confidant of her mistress, Mrs. Jones, a professional dressmaker. But Mary, never satisfied with her lot, driven by envy and misguided confidence that she was meant for finer things, and horrified at the prospect of ending up married to a dolt, falls back into her old ways, raising money to finance her escape back to London by turning tricks behind a local tavern. Exposed, humiliated, and facing expulsion, Mary resorts to violence, and her downfall is complete. Donoghue uses a scant historical record as a basis for a psychologically rich and gripping tale of a tragically self-aware young woman, doomed from the start, filled with jealousy, bitterness and, eventually, consumed by rage at an unjust world that crushes her dreams and thwarts her every attempt to raise herself up. We do not love Mary—some readers will not even like her. She can be sentimental, and in extreme situations she is moved to tears. But she is also dishonest, devious, scornful, covetous and self-pitying. But let there be no mistake: in Emma Donoghue’s dramatic rendition of her brief and sordid life, Mary Saunders is as engaging a protagonist as you’re likely to find in a work of fiction. And as we get deeper into her story, she becomes someone whose fate matters greatly.

[birthsister · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A surprisingly good read for a book that has been malingering on my shelf for the past several years. I thought it was a bodice ripper, and it never seemed to make it to the top of my TBR pile. Now that I've finally gotten around to it I'm disappointed I haven't read it sooner. The writing style is beautiful, with a few turns of a phrase that I want to jot down to reference again later. Our heroine is an anti-hero, pushed into making bad choices by a lack of options. Who she evolves into as a person isn't likeable, and you can see the train wreck of her life coming at her with all the speed and velocity only adolescent bad judgement can muster. It's harsh and its crude, but for some that's just the defining moments of their life. And sometimes, even as a reader, we just have to accept that people don't always learn from their mistakes.

[majesdane-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Well-written, but I didn't really come away with any kind of strong feelings about this book.

[yvonne.sevignykaiser · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This one was a little slow to get into, it took me nearly 100 pages. Some of the scenes were a bit more graphic than I needed which helped to skim through another 100 pages. I picked this book up after reading Room, which I found very well written.

[cameling_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Based on the true story of Mary Saunders, a servant who murdered her dressmaker mistress in the 1700s, this historical fiction takes a hard look at the life of a girl whose desire for a red ribbon leads her to make a decision with unfortunate repercussions. With an eye for the finer things in life, Mary, however, finds herself falling in with a prostitute who teaches her how to survive on the streets of London.But Mary has her eye on finer things, and when London becomes too dangerous for her to remain, she flees to Monmouth and finds herself a position as a servant in the household of her mother's best friend, hiding her past behind a web of lies. Her skills with the needle eventually leads her into a closer relationship with her mother's friend and she becomes part of the family. However, her ambitions are never far from the surface, and before long, she reverts to her old trade, with disastrous results.It's a deep dive into the few options available to women during this period, and examines the various characteristics and skills women find it necessary to employ in order to survive.

[strawberryga · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I just finished this book about 15 minutes ago. Mary was a girl who wanted more out of life but was constantly reminded she was never going to be in silks as she dreamed. The trama of being thrown from her house and becoming a whore, being schooled by the unscrupulous Doll.





SPOILER BEYOND DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN"T READ THE BOOK YET:

I do not Hate Mary. I understand how a young girl can be mentally twisted by the events in her life.
She wanted more out of life than her current station allowed.
I believed that she loved Mrs. Jones and only killed her to hide the secret of how she made her money. Mary was ashamed of herself for selling her body, she wanted to better herself but found no other way.
Mrs Jones taking her money made the girl 'snap' and she would rather have killed the lady than to admit her prostitution. She wanted to hurt her for taking the money, she was stealing the clothes she worked so hard on and thought she rightfully deserved.
She first verbally assaulted the woman and that didn't make Mrs. Jones crumble, instead the woman tried to rip the dress off of Mary. Mary's next option was to physically cause the woman pain... and that she did.

[sparrowbytherailstar · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Having skimmed through some of the other reviews, I want to get something out of the way.If you're looking for a pretty story, or prefer the more bucolic renderings of Jane Austen-esque literature, odds are, you're not going to like Slammerkin. There's nothing wrong with liking Jane Austen, or feeling like your books should be pleasant- everyone has a type, and all I'm saying is, this probably isn't yours. Hopefully this will help stem the tide of negative reviews wholly shocked by the "graphic" descriptions of prostitution in Slammerkin.Prior to this, I had not read anything by the author- I bought it because I am a fan of historical fiction, and a seamstress. I enjoyed Slammerkin; a thoroughly decent book, and while it does not sugar coat the day to day going-ons of a poverty-stricken woman without the protection of a family in 18th century England, I did not think it was really outrageous in terms of sexuality, as some negative reviews suggested. The descriptions of sex, and the industry of England's underbelly are not shocking, but they are realistic, and gritty, and understated. There's not a whole lot of woe-is-me, ripping my hair out over my lost innocence tripe that can sometimes run rampant in the genre, and for that, I lift my glass to Donoghue.The story is based on Mary Saunders; a young girl who, for various reasons, seems to resent her mother (a seamstress). After an unfortunate series of events, Mary leaves home, and ultimately ends up unable to support herself. She's taken in by an amiable, though drunken, prostitute, and despite her initial misgivings about the profession, eventually realizes you're infinitely better paid to sing for your supper, than you are trying to hack it out in one of the sweatshops of London.The basis of the story from there is Mary's eternal search for something better; for the good life, which she seems to feel entitled to. One bad decision follows another, and her use of manipulation and deceit to try to get ahead is generally met with calamity.Mary is not an easy person to like- in fact, I didn't like her much at all. I did, however, find her story interesting. I think maybe what kept this book from being a 4 star was Mary. I'm not opposed to reading about unlikeable people- sometimes they make for fascinating print. But in addition to Mary being kind of a prat, she was daft as well. I didn't find her ambitious; I just found her vapid.What saved this book from being a 2 star- for me- was that Donoghue based her story on a snippet of history- a short blip she'd read, about a young girl who met an unfortunate end. I'm a sucker for historical fiction, (read: not bodice rippers, but fiction, about historical folks), and for dreaming about the gaps history books don't fill. I also count some of history's most maligned women as my favorite subjects- but Mary Saunders... Marie Antoinette she aint. Some people talk about ambition, but I didn't really view her as ambitious, just vain, with a sense of entitlement, and never really appreciative towards the people who, however subtly, make her life easier for her.Aside from that snippet, basically everything in between is drawn from Donaghue's imagination. She does an excellent job of bringing to life the harsh, cold, filthy realities of the era's poorer population, and manages to draw out something human and at times, relateable, in even the most unlikely characters. Despite not really caring for Mary's personality, you can't help but feel sorry for her- or at least cringe when she makes yet another bad decision that is bound to bring her nothing but misery.The book moves a little slow when Mary settles into her last "home" as a working foundling of sorts, but everything up until that point was more than enough to keep me reading till the end. Donoghue has a strong voice, and vividly brings to life her story and it's residents, without being overly descriptive or dragging out the details, but still with enough background to make for a solid world just beyond ours. She makes you feel like you're there, watching, and her tendency to throw the more intense moments at you without much warning is much akin to the way real life is, I think.If you like historical fiction, or grittier novels, than I think you'll be taken with Slammerkin.

[lisa.johnson.james · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Now I understand why this book made the 1001 list. This is my second title by this author, & I love the way she writes. This story, set in 1763 England, is based on the true account of Mary Saunders, a VERY young London prostitute, or, as they called themselves, Misses, or "strollers". She was raped at 14, became pregnant, was kicked out of her home by her mother, who felt she had brought disgrace to the family, had a back alley abortion at 5-6 months along by an old woman with a dirty pointed stick that left her barren for life, & that was the only way left open to her for survival. It is a very tragic story. Eventually she runs away to Monmouth, to the home of her mother's childhood friend, Mrs. Jones, who takes her in as a maid, & she eventually helps her out in her dressmaking business that she runs with her husband, who makes ladies' stays. I'm not giving a spoiler, but Mary doesn't live to see her 20th birthday. If you are a history buff, or a lover of Victorian /historical fiction, it's a very good book. I really felt sorry for Mary....

[mizpurplest · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, I was not expecting that.

I put this book down for a long time because I disliked the protagonist, and didn't like where I thought the story was going. Now that it's over, I think I imagined worse but also better than how it actually ended. The story and characters help buffer the reader from what happens, but it was still harsher than what I typically choose.

[alisonlea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book rocks hard! It takes a certain reader with an affinity for an odd blend of Gothic feminist British historical fiction, but if you're "that girl" you'll love it!

[violetthedwarf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely heartbreaking. The story of Mary Saunders is a tragedy, as one mistake leads to another and eventually leads her to the point of no return.

I was actually angry when I finished this book. Mary dies. Mary is hung for the murder of her mistress. She did wrong, but I wanted her to escape, to get away with it, to live a life not perfect and not normal, but free and happy.

Donoghue perfectly sets up Mary's story so everything seems natural. Even as you're begging her in your head not to do this, you understand why she does.

A good read, but not a happy one.

Be aware that the book contains rape scenes, an abortion scene and a miscarriage scene. If that sort of thing distresses or triggers you, you may want to avoid the book.

[greeniezona · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I spied this paperback in the for sale section at the Mecosta Library, and immediately claimed it for my own. I had fallen in love with Donaghue's short story collection The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits, and also enjoyed her historical novel, Life Mask.

Well, Slammerkin is also a historical novel, set in a similar time period, the 1760s. And it is also based off of the life of a real woman, though this time one whom about not much is known. And also, as seems to be the theme of Donaghue's work, it is the story of a woman crushed for wanting more than the circumstances she was born into would allow.

In this particular, Mary is born into a London family with little means, yet she lusts after fine clothing and bright colors, while disdaining the life of service and toil that seems destined to be her lot. Her mother wishes to train her up as a seamstress to help in her work, but when Mary ends up pregnant after a ribbon vendor rapes her "in exchange" for a ribbon, even that unwanted door is closed to her.

Slammerkin is often a difficult read. Many times it seems that Mary has the opportunity to lift herself out of the gutter, to make some sort of life for herself, but she destroys most of these chances by railing against the limited station in life she's allowed, by always grasping for more.

Even though the book begins with Mary in jail, her eventual arrival there is made no less bitter by this bit of foreknowledge.

Despite the pain, I would still highly recommend this novel. It remains more readable than Life Mask, and though I'd still recommend The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits as an introduction to Donaghue, this would be a good next read.

[lmcalister_7 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

[edit] reviewIs this really what you think of humanity, Emma Donoghue? I thought I was pessimistic. There is only one character I would describe as good in this bo...more Is this really what you think of humanity, Emma Donoghue? I thought I was pessimistic. There is only one character I would describe as good in this book. I dont mean Pollyanna good, I mean resists temptation and thinks of others before herself good. This may be one of the most depressing books I ever read. There have been sadder that made me cry because I care for the characters. I didnt care for anyone here enough to cry but it this is a portrait of what people are really like on their secret insides, its a sad, sad world.My review doesnt reflect the skill of the author. I just found it to be a really unpleasant story and cant bring myself to mark it as "I liked it". Emma Donoghue and I may be over

[neithernora · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

To summarize my opinion of this book: very well-written, but not for the faint of heart.

It took me a while to get into this book -- too many misfortunes before I had a chance to become attached to the protagonist -- but once I had, it was quite absorbing. The characters were decently fleshed out, and the historical research was flawless. My main issue, I suppose, is the same one that made me dislike it in the beginning: too many turns for the worse, with no feeling of satisfaction to balance it -- rather, it all felt completely inevitable. A book to justify pessimism.

[banjo123 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A riveting historical novel that focuses on the limitations of gender and class in 18th century England, and also gives a lot of information about clothing and fashion during that time. A slammerkin is a loosely fitting dress, apparently often worn by London prostitutes.The book is loosely based on a historical figure, Mary Saunders, a teenage servant. Donaghue gives her a rich internal life, and an appealingly flawed character.I enjoyed Donoghue's writhing, and the plot was interesting and allowed the exploration of different parts of life in the 18th century. Some of the plot was a bit unbelievable, which I have noticed to be a flaw in Donoghue's works in the past.

[a1stitcher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is based on a real person, Mary Saunders. There is apparently very little information about her, so this novel is the author's attempt to create a life for her. Emma Donaghue did an excellent job. I found myself really hoping Mary would rise above her beginnings and do well for herself.
I did find this book very difficult to put down. This entire story is so tragic. I'll not give any of it away.