#genre historical
A Place of Rage (Pratibha Parmar, 1991)
This exuberant celebration of African American women and their achievements features interviews with Angela Davis, June Jordan, and Alice Walker [as well as Trinh T. Minh-ha]. Within the context of the civil rights, Black power and feminist movements, the trio reassess how women such as Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer revolutionized American society.
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Book review:The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper
Owned by a man she despises and enslaved in one of the many seedy brothels of Pompeii, Amara knows that her chances of a shot at freedom are slim. Sharp, clever and resourceful, she is forced to hide her talents and bide her time. But when an opportunity to rise higher in Pompeii’s social ranks, Amara finds hope returning to her.
InThe Wolf Den, Harper brings a new perspective to the famed port city of Pompeii. Amara and her fellow she-wolves (brothel slaves) drift through the city day after day, night after night, observing the daily routines of free citizens, scouting out potential customers and gossiping about women from the rival brothel.
This is a difficult book to review, because it was an uncomfortable read, though I don’t think I would have wanted it to be anything else. Harper doesn’t shy away from the tough subject matter of life for a brothel slave, and parts of the novel are truly harrowing to read. At the same time, I wish it had been slightly less graphic; at times, the horrors Amara and her fellow she-wolves were made to endure seemed almost gratuitous.
That said, there were several parts of the novel I did enjoy. There’s a great deal of genuine warmth and sisterhood between several of the women of the brothel, and Amara herself was an excellent character - cunning and self-serving but also kind.
The Wolf Den isn’t a particularly fast-plotted novel, and the pace often drags, though I felt as if it was supposed to - we’re thrown into the lives of Amara and the rest of the she-wolves, and subjected to the same endless, monotonous days of hardship as they are. Still, I did feel that the novel would have benefitted from being a little tighter paced.
Overall,The Wolf Den is an uncomfortable read, but well-written, and gives a much-needed voice to the women of antiquity who are often forgotten or used as a tasteless punchline.
Many thanks to Head of Zeus for providing a copy of The Wolf Den. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Rating: 3 stars | ★★★✰✰
Review cross-posted to Goodreads
Buy on Amazon: US|UK (currently 99p on Kindle in the UK!)
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