Product 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...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43692 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 422 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
"Strangers might remember a trip to Monmouth to see a girl hang, but who would spare a thought for the whos and hows and whys?" Mary Saunders asks herself on the way to the scaffold. Emma Donoghue has taken the scant facts of Mary's short life in the 1760s and given her heart, flesh, guts and humour in this fine tale. Mary, at 13, seduced by an impulse for a coloured ribbon, and dreams of silks and sashes--as well as longings to better herself--becomes a slammerkin, a loose woman, in the roil of Hogarthian London. Her friend and mentor into the world of tricks is Doll who knows every inch of the city's high and low life. When Mary finds her dead, she flees to Monmouth and tries to reinvent herself as a servant girl. But the chafes of servitude and of "knowing her place" lead to a double life, a brutal murder, and her end at 16.

No rags to riches tale here, but nor does the author allow the brutal circumstances of Mary's life to swamp her colourful and richly textured narrative. Mary is full of spark and cheek; her eye is sharp to the hypocrisies of privilege and religion, her speech deliciously expresses her disdain for her "betters". Only occasionally does the narrative slip into too much telling at the expense of showing, and thus loses some of its emotional impact and pace.

That said, Emma Donoghue's gifts as a storyteller are considerable: her unsparing accounts of small and large events, a wealth of detail and a wonderfully rich and fluent language makes this a vivid and moving slice from the underbelly of 18th-century life.--Ruth Petrie

Amazon.co.uk Review
"Strangers might remember a trip to Monmouth to see a girl hang, but who would spare a thought for the whos and hows and whys?" Mary Saunders asks herself on the way to the scaffold. Emma Donoghue has taken the scant facts of Mary's short life in the 1760s and given her heart, flesh, guts and humour in this fine tale. Mary, at 13, seduced by an impulse for a coloured ribbon, and dreams of silks and sashes--as well as longings to better herself--becomes a slammerkin, a loose woman, in the roil of Hogarthian London. Her friend and mentor into the world of tricks is Doll who knows every inch of the city's high and low life. When Mary finds her dead, she flees to Monmouth and tries to reinvent herself as a servant girl. But the chafes of servitude and of "knowing her place" lead to a double life, a brutal murder, and her end at 16.

No rags to riches tale here, but nor does the author allow the brutal circumstances of Mary's life to swamp her colourful and richly textured narrative. Mary is full of spark and cheek; her eye is sharp to the hypocrisies of privilege and religion, her speech deliciously expresses her disdain for her "betters". Only occasionally does the narrative slip into too much telling at the expense of showing, and thus loses some of its emotional impact and pace.

That said, Emma Donoghue's gifts as a storyteller are considerable: her unsparing accounts of small and large events, a wealth of detail and a wonderfully rich and fluent language makes this a vivid and moving slice from the underbelly of 18th-century life.--Ruth Petrie

Review
What attracted me was the subtle way this girl, who feels herself to be a lost and even wicked soul, is almost tamed by her circumstances - but never quite, never really losing that restlessness, frustration and ambition which has marked her from the beginning. There's no cheating in the end, no happy neat ending, but instead a rawness which feels real and deeply satisfying. I'm sure it will be hugely enjoyed and I wish it every luck' MARGARET FORSTER

Loosely based on the tale of a murder in 1763, this tale concerns the young Mary Saunders, daughter of the poor seamstress Susan Digot and her unfortunate husband Cob. The slammerkin is a dress worn by prostitutes, and this is what Mary eventually becomes when she is thrown out by her mother and her new husband. The story follow her fortunes thereafter as she is forced to flee from debt and arrives in Monmouth, where she tries to forge a new life. Here Donoghue shows what a gripping combination her fascination with the past, her feel for drama and her use of language can produce. Mary is a convincing character from the start; we see her at 16, huddled in a cold prison cell amid other criminals in the gin-clouded air. 'When a boy stole the blue-edged bread out of her hand, Mary Saunders only contracted her fingers and shut her eyes. She ws going to die in gaol, just like her father. Until the morning she felt a light tug in her chest, as if her heart were starting to unravel. She opened her eyes to see a purse-snatch with only one sleeve stooped over her, delicately pulling a faded red ribbon out of Mary's stays. 'That's mine,' said Mary, her voice hoarse with disuse.' The rest of the book is as vividly squalid and Donoghue notches up the excitement as Mary finds herself in the mire with her enemies drawing clsoer. While this is probably more a woman's read than a man's, anyone who enjoys 18th century realism will find it of interest. (Kirkus UK)

Customer Reviews

Absolutely breathtaking - now resides in my 'favourite books' list
I won't beat around the bush - this book has leaped into my 'favourite books' list. And I feel with good reason. Slammerkin is the story of Mary Saunders, a young girl from London who ends up on the streets after getting pregnant as the result of being raped. Young and naive, Mary wanders the streets, wondering what to do next. She is eventually found by Doll Higgins, a streetwalker. The two form an unlikely friendship, and Mary moves in with Doll and learns about her lifestyle, which at first disgusts her. She soon realises, however, that as she currently has nothing and is living off Doll's kindness, she must do something. So she bites the bullet and descends into prostitution, saving up enough money for a back street abortion. Now free of the worry of having a baby, Mary throws herself wholeheartedly into the life of being a 'stroller' and taking 'cullies' up back alleys. She embraces the freedom and easy money of selling her body and can't ever see herself doing anything else.

However, Mary's life, never straightforward, becomes more complicated. After an illness, she goes into a home for disadvantaged women, leaving Doll on the outside. She tells herself that as soon as she's better, she'll leave an go back to her friend immediately, which she does. Only things have changed. Poor Doll has perished and lies frozen with cold in the alley by their lodgings. Alone again, Mary retrieves her belongings from their room, disturbing the landlady in the process. Accused of theft Mary runs, chased by the infamous Caesar; a huge black man famed from his knife and the unspeakable things he's done with it.

Knowing she'll never be safe in London again, Mary boards a carriage bound for Monmouth, her mother and father's hometown, hoping to find an old friend of her mother's and be taken in. Mary now believes she is leaving her old life behind her, but it seems unwilling to let go that easily...

This book is truly exceptional. You truly feel for Mary's plight, as in her youth she doesn't really know what's happening. But a few months on the street and she's a hardened whore, caring about nothing except ale, clothes and her best friend Doll. The two are a force to be reckoned with and care about each other deeply. Just as you think Mary has found her feet, albeit in the trade of prostitution, everything is whipped away from her once more. You begin to wonder where Mary's tale will end. Will she get her happy ever after, or will she continue to run from her problems? You simply have to read this book to find out. It's excellent - the characters are many, but all excellently portrayed, and the settings give a real feel for what things were like in the 18th century. Gripping and breathtaking with laugh out loud moments, I'd recommend this to any book lover.

Good
I have always enjoyed historical novels and decided to give this a try after reading a few really great reviews on Amazon. I thought the story was great and the characters very realistic. The story follows one main character and her fight to break away from her social boundaries and try and better herself. Like any story, the road travelled is not always a smooth one...A good story with strong believable characters.

Clunky but compelling
I like a novel where the heroine has a thick dark streak running through her (see The Spaniard's Daughter by Melanie Gifford) and they don't come much darker than the protagonist of this thought-provoking adventure. Mary Saunders defies almost every attempt by the reader to like or sympathise with her. Despite an occasionally clumsy narrative the tale of her descent into prostitution and murder is too compelling to abandon. Interesting ideas are touched upon but not developed, which leaves the novel seemingly incomplete. However there's no escaping the shocking, though inevitable, conclusion.