false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171592057m/108886.jpg 108886 2 Actually, they called themselves "landladies" in New Orleans, though that didn't change the nature of their business: running houses of prostitution in the city's wide-open French Quarter. Beginning in 1920, when she was still in her teens, Norma Wallace managed a high-class bordello for an affluent and influential clientele, evading the police and asserting her sexual freedom "like a man" despite the nominal confines of several rickety marriages. Obsessive love for a man 39 years her junior and her first-ever jail term finally put Wallace out of the business in the mid-1960s, but her memories were still vivid and raunchy when she tape-recorded material for an autobiography in the two years before her suicide in 1974. Novelist Christine Wiltz makes good use of those recordings in an earthy narrative filled with great anecdotes, from how the name of Wallace's dog became local slang for an out-of-town customer to the time an undertaker's premises served as her temporary place of business. Wiltz also interviewed many of Wallace's lovers and associates; she draws on popular journalism and scholarly monographs with equal acuity to flesh out Norma's story. Her perceptive biography of a colorful and complex woman is equally satisfying as a social history of 20th-century New Orleans. <I>--Wendy Smith</I> 1590516 2000 The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld total:115|5:15|4:39|3:44|2:14|1:3| 115 394 186 22 3 0 false false Fri Aug 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Dec 05 07:40:36 -0800 2008 Fri Aug 14 06:47:16 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sat Nov 15 14:38:05 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 15 14:38:53 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 29 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Mar 11 19:39:40 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 11 19:41:09 -0700 2008 "You know, in another life, under other circumstances, I might have been a captain of industry. What the hell—maybe I was." —Norma Wallace, who ran whorehouses in New Orleans and elsewhere for over 40 years

Norma Wallace turned her hardscrabble existence into a glamorous (th...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 18 09:47:57 -0700 2009 Mon May 18 09:50:36 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Jan 02 13:48:52 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 02 13:52:10 -0800 2009 1 0 false false Tue Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 23:48:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 10 10:28:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Tue Mar 10 09:33:43 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 09:35:10 -0700 2009
]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jun 19 06:24:42 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 11:51:09 -0700 2009 2 0 true false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Thu May 31 18:20:20 -0700 2007 Thu May 31 18:22:59 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 17 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue May 22 20:13:42 -0700 2007 Sun Jun 22 15:03:05 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 12:17:56 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 12:18:50 -0800 2009 Polly Adler, next]]> 1 0 false false Sun May 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Feb 14 07:34:28 -0800 2008 Mon May 05 13:34:02 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Sep 03 22:57:20 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 03 22:59:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Mon Jan 28 21:52:55 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 21:35:01 -0800 2008 2 0 false false Sun Apr 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 09 11:13:18 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 08 12:09:12 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed May 07 21:34:10 -0700 2008 Wed May 07 21:34:50 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue May 20 13:34:13 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 20 19:04:35 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 12 13:25:59 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 12 13:27:01 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Wed Apr 12 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Thu Jun 19 12:34:12 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 07 09:34:12 -0700 2008 Truly fascinating to read about this woman's life.]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Mon Dec 10 15:46:54 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 10 15:46:54 -0800 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=108886