The Woman Who Escaped from Shame

by Toby Olson

Paul Cords, an American salesman in Mexico rescues a miniature horse from pornographers, falls in love with a prostitute, and discovers a strange code that gives him clues about the truth of his past

324 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Toby Olson (born 1937 Chicago) is an American novelist.
Through high school and his four years in the Navy as a surgical technician, he lived in California, Arizona, and Texas.
He graduated from Occidental College and Long Island University.
Toby Olson has published eight novels, the most recent of which – The Blond Box – appeared from Fiction Collective-2 in 2003; and numerous books of poetry, including Human Nature (New Directions). A new novel, The Bitter Half, is forthcoming. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts, Olson’s novel Seaview received the PEN/Faulkner award for The Most Distinguished Work of American Fiction in 1983. Toby Olson lives in Philadelphia and in North Truro, on Cape Cod.

Reviews

[Jenny]

Of the many scenes from this book vividly with me five years after reading it, none are of miniature pony sex, although teeny tiny sexually enslaved horses are central to the plot. I have no idea what this book is about, except maybe loyalty, power, heredity, fickle timetables, and how we are human.
Maybe the pay off for reading this is the scene at the end, a western show-down. Or maybe the pay off is the unrelenting desire to read it again, so I might try to understand a little better.

[David Harris]

Strange and haunting. This is a very beautifully written novel with a very unusual focus. It is a book that will stay with you long after you have finished it.