The Crimson Petal and the White: A Novel

Michel Faber

Sep 2003 · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

About this ebook

A teenage prostitute ascends through the many layers of Victorian London society in this highly acclaimed “big, sexy, bravura a novel” (Janet Maslin, The New York Times).
 
London, 1870s. At the heart of this panoramic narrative is a young woman’s struggle to lift her body and soul out of the gutter. Sugar, a nineteen-year-old whore in the brothel of the terrifying Mrs. Castaway, yearns for a better life. Her ascent through the strata of Victorian society begins with the egotistical perfume magnate William Rackham. Infatuated with Sugar, William’s patronage brings her into the circles of his family and milieu: his wife who barely overcomes chronic hysteria to make her appearances during “the Season”; his mysteriously hidden-away daughter, left to the care of minions; his pious brother, foiled in his devotional calling by his lust for the Widow Fox; as well as preening socialites, drunken journalists, untrustworthy servants, vile guttersnipes, and whores of all stripes and persuasions.
 
Twenty years in its conception, research, and writing, The Crimson Petal and the White is teeming with life, rich in texture and incident, with breathtakingly real characters. "Cocky and brilliant, amused and angry, [Faber] is rightfully earning comparisons to observer extraordinaire Charles Dickens. . . . It's hopeless to resist" (Entertainment Weekly).

Ratings and reviews

The story of Sugar, a prostitute that never tells a client no, and her "benefactor" the deplorable William Rackham - the soon to be heir of his father's perfume industry. Let's just say this novel ends exactly the way it begins; you only need traverse the 800 pages of endless drivel to get there.

Vivid descriptions that leave you feeling like you need to take a bath. It has a "make up your own ending" kind of ending that will leave you wanting more. If you're looking for a book with closure and happy endings, this book is not for you.

Starts slow but keep going, its a fabulous book!

About the author

Michel Faber's work has been published in twenty countries and received several literary awards. He lives in Scotland.