Madam

A contemporary gothic debut with a feminist edge, for fans of Naomi Alderman and Madeline Miller ' The simmering menace and mystery kept me absolutely gripped ' Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne ' Rebecca meets The Secret History . Gloriously dark, gloriously gothic ' Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton For 150 years, Caldonbrae Hall has loomed high above the Scottish cliffs as a beacon of excellence. A boarding school for girls, it promises that its pupils will emerge 'resilient and ready to serve society'. New to the school, Classics teacher Rose Christie is soon overwhelmed by the institution's arcane traditions and terrifyingly cool, vindictive students. Her classroom becomes her haven, until her lessons about fearless women starts to draw the suspicions of the powers that be. As Rose uncovers the darkness that beats at the very heart of Caldonbrae, the lines between myth and reality grow ever more blurred. Can Rose - and the fierce young women she has come to love - find a way to escape the fate the school has in store for them, before it is too late. . . ______________________ ' A highly entertaining and atmospheric read ' Kate Sawyer, author of The Stranding ' Imagine if Donna Tartt and Margaret Atwood got together to write a creepy, suspenseful novel . . . ' Chandler Baker, author of Whisper Network ' Strange, dark, and utterly consuming . . . I loved it ' Katie Lowe, author of The Furies ' Chilling, eerie and very clever. I devoured it ' Polly Crosby, author of The Illustrated Child ' A thrilling debut, reminiscent of Du Maurier. Leaves us breathless at each twist and turn ' Nydia Hetherington, author of A Girl Made Of Air

A contemporary gothic debut with a feminist edge, for fans of Naomi Alderman and Madeline Miller ' The simmering menace and mystery kept me absolutely gripped ' Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne ' Rebecca meets The Secret History . Gloriously dark, gloriously gothic ' Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton For 150 years, Caldonbrae Hall has loomed high above the Scottish cliffs as a beacon of excellence. A boarding school for girls, it promises that its pupils will emerge 'resilient and ready to serve society'. New to the school, Classics teacher Rose Christie is soon overwhelmed by the institution's arcane traditions and terrifyingly cool, vindictive students. Her classroom becomes her haven, until her lessons about fearless women starts to draw the suspicions of the powers that be. As Rose uncovers the darkness that beats at the very heart of Caldonbrae, the lines between myth and reality grow ever more blurred. Can Rose - and the fierce young women she has come to love - find a way to escape the fate the school has in store for them, before it is too late. . . ______________________ ' A highly entertaining and atmospheric read ' Kate Sawyer, author of The Stranding ' Imagine if Donna Tartt and Margaret Atwood got together to write a creepy, suspenseful novel . . . ' Chandler Baker, author of Whisper Network ' Strange, dark, and utterly consuming . . . I loved it ' Katie Lowe, author of The Furies ' Chilling, eerie and very clever. I devoured it ' Polly Crosby, author of The Illustrated Child ' A thrilling debut, reminiscent of Du Maurier. Leaves us breathless at each twist and turn ' Nydia Hetherington, author of A Girl Made Of Air

The compulsively readable and sometimes jaw-dropping story of the life of a notorious madam who played hostess to every gangster, politician, writer, sports star and Cafe Society swell worth knowing, and who as much as any single figure helped make the twenties roar--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Most Famous Man in America . A fast-paced tale of ... Polly's many court battles, newspaper headlines, mobster dealings and society gossip.... A breathless tale told through extraordinary research." -- The New York Times Book Review Simply put: Everybody came to Polly's. Pearl Polly Adler (1900-1962) was a diminutive dynamo whose Manhattan brothels in the Roaring Twenties became places not just for men to have the company of women but were key gathering places where the culturati and celebrity elite mingled with high society and with violent figures of the underworld--and had a good time doing it. As a Jewish immigrant from eastern Europe, Polly Adler's life is a classic American story of success and assimilation that starts like a novel by Henry Roth and then turns into a glittering real-life tale straight out of F. Scott Fitzgerald. She declared her ambition to be the best goddam madam in all America and succeeded wildly. Debby Applegate uses Polly's story as the key to unpacking just what made the 1920s the appallingly corrupt yet glamorous and transformational era that it was and how the collision between high and low is the unique ingredient that fuels American culture.

The compulsively readable and sometimes jaw-dropping story of the life of a notorious madam who played hostess to every gangster, politician, writer, sports star and Cafe Society swell worth knowing, and who as much as any single figure helped make the twenties roar--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Most Famous Man in America . A fast-paced tale of ... Polly's many court battles, newspaper headlines, mobster dealings and society gossip.... A breathless tale told through extraordinary research." -- The New York Times Book Review Simply put: Everybody came to Polly's. Pearl Polly Adler (1900-1962) was a diminutive dynamo whose Manhattan brothels in the Roaring Twenties became places not just for men to have the company of women but were key gathering places where the culturati and celebrity elite mingled with high society and with violent figures of the underworld--and had a good time doing it. As a Jewish immigrant from eastern Europe, Polly Adler's life is a classic American story of success and assimilation that starts like a novel by Henry Roth and then turns into a glittering real-life tale straight out of F. Scott Fitzgerald. She declared her ambition to be the best goddam madam in all America and succeeded wildly. Debby Applegate uses Polly's story as the key to unpacking just what made the 1920s the appallingly corrupt yet glamorous and transformational era that it was and how the collision between high and low is the unique ingredient that fuels American culture.