num_pages: 838
description: "Michel Faber leads us back to 1870s London, where Sugar, a nineteen-year-old whore in the brothel of the terrifying Mrs. Castaway, yearns for escape into a better life. Her ascent through the strata of Victorian Society offers us intimacy with a host of lovable, maddening, unforgettable characters." They begin with William Rackham, an egotistical perfume magnate whose ambition is fueled by his lust for Sugar, and whose patronage of her brings her into proximity to his extended family and milieu: his unhinged, child-like wife, Agnes; his mysteriously hidden-away daughter, Sophie; and his pious brother Henry, foiled in his devotional calling by a persistently less-than-chaste love for the Widow Fox, whose efforts on behalf of The Rescue Society lead Henry into ever-more disturbing confrontations with flesh.
language: English
title: The Crimson Petal and the White
titlecomplete: The Crimson Petal and the White
characters: Caroline (The Crimson Petal and the White), Henry Rackham, William Rackham, Sophie Rackham, Agnes Rackham, Sugar, Emmeline Fox
genres: Fiction, Historical, British Literature, Romance, Adult, Novels, 19th Century, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Victorian
ratings_count: 43100
places: England, London, England
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: James Tait Black Memorial Prize
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 1262332800000
name: Premio letterario Giuseppe Acerbi
publisher: Harcourt