David Cordingly: Heroines and Harlots

By MARGIE THOMSON

Our own Joan Druett has written on this subject, but maritime historian Cordingly casts a wide net and writes compellingly well about the lives ashore of the prostitutes and wives who relied on seafaring men, as well as the women who went to sea themselves.

Women such as lighthouse heroines Grace Darling and Ida Lewis, and the piratical Mary Read and Anne Bonney have been written about before. But Cordingly has uncovered unfortunates such as China Emma who drank herself to death despite her husband throwing buckets of water over her in the street, and the German prostitute who was a wife to several sailors. Cordingly is sympathetic and non-judgmental and a non-fussy storyteller.

Pan

$27.95