num_pages: 422
description: Set in London and Monmouth in the late 1700s, this is an extraordinary novel about Mary Saunders, the young daughter of a poor seamstress. Mary hungers greedily for fine clothes and ribbons, as people of her class do for food and warmth. It's a hunger that lures her into prostitution at the age of thirteen. Mary is thrown out by her distraught mother when she gets pregnant and almost dies on the dangerous streets of London. Her saviour is Doll - a prostitute. Mary roams London freely with Doll, selling her body to all manner of 'cullies', dressed whorishly in colourful, gaudy dresses with a painted red smile. Faced with bad debts and threats upon her life she eventually flees to Monmouth, her mother's hometown, where she attempts to start a new life as a maid in Mrs Jones's house. But Mary soon discovers that she can't escape her past and just how dearly people like her pay for yearnings not fitting to their class in society.
language: English
title: Slammerkin
titlecomplete: Slammerkin
characters: Mary Saunders
genres: British Literature, Historical, 18th Century, Adult, Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Fiction, Prostitution, Canada
ratings_count: 16273
places: London, England, Monmouth, Wales
awards: awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: Ferro-Grumley Award
category: Lesbian Fiction
publisher: Virago Press Ltd