House of Mirrors: Life in the Demimonde

By Ada Prell

Surrounded by 14,000-foot mountain peaks and stunning yet dangerous wilderness, Leadville, Colorado is where silver kings make their fortunes, miners fight to survive, and women struggle in the brutal world of coarse men, where laws are loose, yet harsh Victorian mores are rigid and unforgiving.  As Sheriff Lachlan Cooper wrestles with his failure to capture elusive stagecoach robbers, his wife Rachel quietly grapples with her desire to loosen the reins her husband holds her back with.  Laura, Bronwyn, Squirrel Tooth Alice, and the other prostitutes of the House of Mirrors bordello walk a razor's edge as they negotiate the moral terms of survival and social acceptance, seeking moments of meaning and happiness along the way. 

Drawn from the pages of history, the people and events of the 1800s West are returned to life in this historical fiction. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ada Prell
• Release date: Jan 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393967354

Ada Prell

Ada Prell has lived in Boston, the deep South, and Los Angeles, but the inspiration for this story comes from her current home in the high elevations of Colorado, surrounded by imposing mountains, deep glacial lakes, regal trees, pure air, fierce weather, and spellbinding wildlife.  In these wilds, she has been enthralled with stories of the varied mountain inhabitants from the recent and distant past, especially those whose lives were dwarfed by the judgments of niggling minds, inhabitants whose voices were subdued and stifled by the petty and powerful.  The historical fiction House of Mirrors: Life in the Demimonde is her first novel, written in retirement after 32 rewarding years of teaching literature, film, and composition.  She lives with her husband Rick and a long line of rescue dogs, currently starring Molly Brown and Jack Kerouac.