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Lily Cigar
Book by Murphy, Tom
602 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
March 18, 2011
Orphaned at ten, Lily Malone and her older brother Fergus are shuffled off to St. Patrick's Orphanage. Being the good Irish Catholic that she is, Lily dutifully obeys the nuns and learns the skills they teach her, but brother Fergus runs off to seek his fortune in California and is presumed dead at sea. At fifteen, Lily takes a position as between-stairs maid to the very rich Wallingford family, who being both newly rich and Catholic are not yet invited into the best homes - but they'll do anything to get in, including selling their daughter off to a perverted English lord.
Lily works hard and resists all temptations to evil thrown in her path, that is until she's seduced by the Wallingford's younger son Jack, although it's his best friend Brooks Chaffee who sets her heart afire. No surprise, but Lily eventually turns up pregnant and the Wallingfords give her a big check and passage to San Francisco with the promise of employment in their emporium there. Not everything is smooth sailing, and let's just say a few unexpected things happen upon arrival,
"The streets of San Francisco were paved with mud and broken dreams, and the gutters were just waiting, hungrily, yawning and gaping for the likes of Lily Malone!"
With a baby to feed and the cheap Chinese labor taking up all the menial jobs, Lily has little choice but to join the world's oldest profession - although her friend Sophie Delage has the smarts to turn Lily into the most sought after, highest priced whore in the city - Lily Cigar. Successful she may be, but Lily is not one to accept her lot in life, and she dreams of making enough money to start a better life in the country where she can live quietly with her daughter. Now you know there's a whole lot more to it than that, but I'm not going to spill the beans - read it for yourself. Lily faces a lot of ups and downs and challenges in her long life, and the greatest of all during the 1906 earthquake (sniff). Through it all she keeps true to her pure and honest nature, and always the good Irish Catholic girl at heart.
"She had knowingly sinned and been paid for it. God hadn't struck her dead, and if the angels were weeping for her, Lily could not hear them."
Don't let that scare you off though, Lily is not the irritating Pollyanna that you might think. The author's writing is excellent and very lyrical at times, somewhat surprising for a male author,
"...the fires that burned in him were bright pure fires that did not burn but only made a new alchemy of love in whose dear crucible dark dreams and secrets were magically transformed into a new and golden thing, a strong and happy cage of love that promised to hold them both, together, always."
Sigh. And don't you just want to know who the man is who finally captures Lily's heart? Or rather, she captures his wounded heart. I loved loved loved this book, and it's an absolute must read for fans of big fat sagas. Lily's story hooked me from the get-go and I couldn't stop turning the pages until it was over. Don't let the lurid cover or the prostitute angle scare you off either, any sex in this book is very very tame, especially by today's standards. Out of print, but well worth hunting down and don't forget to check your library - mine had a copy.
Lily works hard and resists all temptations to evil thrown in her path, that is until she's seduced by the Wallingford's younger son Jack, although it's his best friend Brooks Chaffee who sets her heart afire. No surprise, but Lily eventually turns up pregnant and the Wallingfords give her a big check and passage to San Francisco with the promise of employment in their emporium there. Not everything is smooth sailing, and let's just say a few unexpected things happen upon arrival,
"The streets of San Francisco were paved with mud and broken dreams, and the gutters were just waiting, hungrily, yawning and gaping for the likes of Lily Malone!"
With a baby to feed and the cheap Chinese labor taking up all the menial jobs, Lily has little choice but to join the world's oldest profession - although her friend Sophie Delage has the smarts to turn Lily into the most sought after, highest priced whore in the city - Lily Cigar. Successful she may be, but Lily is not one to accept her lot in life, and she dreams of making enough money to start a better life in the country where she can live quietly with her daughter. Now you know there's a whole lot more to it than that, but I'm not going to spill the beans - read it for yourself. Lily faces a lot of ups and downs and challenges in her long life, and the greatest of all during the 1906 earthquake (sniff). Through it all she keeps true to her pure and honest nature, and always the good Irish Catholic girl at heart.
"She had knowingly sinned and been paid for it. God hadn't struck her dead, and if the angels were weeping for her, Lily could not hear them."
Don't let that scare you off though, Lily is not the irritating Pollyanna that you might think. The author's writing is excellent and very lyrical at times, somewhat surprising for a male author,
"...the fires that burned in him were bright pure fires that did not burn but only made a new alchemy of love in whose dear crucible dark dreams and secrets were magically transformed into a new and golden thing, a strong and happy cage of love that promised to hold them both, together, always."
Sigh. And don't you just want to know who the man is who finally captures Lily's heart? Or rather, she captures his wounded heart. I loved loved loved this book, and it's an absolute must read for fans of big fat sagas. Lily's story hooked me from the get-go and I couldn't stop turning the pages until it was over. Don't let the lurid cover or the prostitute angle scare you off either, any sex in this book is very very tame, especially by today's standards. Out of print, but well worth hunting down and don't forget to check your library - mine had a copy.
January 9, 2024
As others have said, it's hard to believe this was written by a man. For all that women are accused of over-sentimentalizing male POVs, it’s a rare bird that can claim Dude Authorship & still be a lady that other females find believable. But Lily is believable. She's polite; she's determined; she's rather prudish; she has principles & holds family ties as sacred. She does admit to enjoying sex, but only under the proper circumstances—& life in a brothel isn't one of them. She doesn't know kung-fu or run around preaching anachronistic empowerment, yet she is what modern jargon labels a "strong female character." (Sweet mother of pearl, I hate that term. 🤢) Granted, Lily's rise from orphan to maid to brothel girl to courtesan to madame to rancher & business-owner is improbable...but it's a credit to the book that such a rise was believable while reading. And though I didn’t love Brooks (he’s a bit emo & judgmental—not my style), I enjoyed the way his story was woven throughout; he & Lily have many near-miss encounters & parallel experiences as their paths entwine, like a pair of moons narrowly dodging each other's orbits before finally crashing together.
I thought the first 500 pages were excellent, though I didn't like the final 100 as much. It wasn't because of any drastic style shift; I'm just not a fan of cradle (or nearly-cradle) to grave because it depresses me to watch MCs expire from old age after spending hundreds of pages getting to know them. 😶 But even so, this is 4.5 stars overall & a good example of passé ‘70s sagas. For such a long book, it reads fast; the style is evocative but not meant to intimidate.
I thought the first 500 pages were excellent, though I didn't like the final 100 as much. It wasn't because of any drastic style shift; I'm just not a fan of cradle (or nearly-cradle) to grave because it depresses me to watch MCs expire from old age after spending hundreds of pages getting to know them. 😶 But even so, this is 4.5 stars overall & a good example of passé ‘70s sagas. For such a long book, it reads fast; the style is evocative but not meant to intimidate.
January 10, 2015
I loved the first half of this 1850s Americana rags to riches saga as we followed Lily from orphanage to whorehouse to respectable businesswoman, but once the riches had been reached, there didn't seem anywhere else for the story to go, and I ended up skim-reading the last couple of hundred pages. Great start, disappointing finish.
January 7, 2017
Enjoyable at the beginning and for the first half, but becomes overextended and tedious once Lily abandons New York for California. I also believe the POVs of the male lead were unnecessary, bringing little to the plot besides giving the author a chance to slip in some events of the time that were otherwise perfectly disposable with no harm to this story. The romance lacks credibility as well, and Lily's time at the brothel is pure trope storytelling, specifically the Gold-Hearted Whore cliché I don't appreciate for its repetitiveness in Hist-Fic.
January 13, 2016
This is going right on my favorites shelf!
November 4, 2014
A very good historical romance story about a young Irish immigrant who is orphaned when first her father died, then a few years later her mother dies. She and her brother are sent to an orphanage associated with Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Lily quickly adjusts to life in the orphanage where she feels safe, attends school, and isn't hungry all the time. Her brother has a harder time and ends up running away. Lily wants to enter the convent but when her favorite religious sister commits suicide she loses her vocation. She leaves the orphanage at 15 or 16 to become a house servant for one of New York's wealthy families.
As often happened to girls working such jobs one of the sons in the family rapes her, after which she feels she cannot say no to him. Eventually she gets pregnant. The family she works for is very fond of her so rather than throwing her out on the street they send her to San Francisco, a journey that takes months by ship. San Francisco is a bustling town thanks to the gold rush. Here she builds a life for her and her daughter. Lily is a strong character who makes the best of every situation.
As often happened to girls working such jobs one of the sons in the family rapes her, after which she feels she cannot say no to him. Eventually she gets pregnant. The family she works for is very fond of her so rather than throwing her out on the street they send her to San Francisco, a journey that takes months by ship. San Francisco is a bustling town thanks to the gold rush. Here she builds a life for her and her daughter. Lily is a strong character who makes the best of every situation.
October 29, 2014
This was a very well written book. If Lily Cigar actually existed it would be her biography. The characters were well developed and realistic. The time period was very well done, including the morals and mind set of the people. The day to day life was interesting enough to keep you involved until a major event occurred. That in itself is difficult in these type of books and I applaud Tom Murphy for his attention to detail as well as story line.
Lily Cigar has an indomitable spirit, backbone and courage. Her life story will bring you through a plethora of emotions. The adventure is filled with life lessons and truths about the injustices and cruelty of mankind. It is filled with love, loss, hope, strength and determination. Grab your ticket now and enjoy a great ride.
Lily Cigar has an indomitable spirit, backbone and courage. Her life story will bring you through a plethora of emotions. The adventure is filled with life lessons and truths about the injustices and cruelty of mankind. It is filled with love, loss, hope, strength and determination. Grab your ticket now and enjoy a great ride.
September 2, 2020
Lily is a great heroine. Tom Murphy can definitely write. Only a few, very vague spoilers that you could guess at anyway.
Sadly, I can't say much good about Brooks. The golden boy who caught Lily's heart is an intense letdown. I don't like him. While he had his own POV and his own story, it was fine, but once he met Lily, their relationship just sucked. Because Brooks sucks. Lily deserved so much better than this well bred imbecile.
Lily Malone is orphaned at 10, and from then on, but for a short interlude at the orphanage, which was ok, her life sucked more than it had before. What happens to her is just the slow grind of fate and most turns for the worse don't come quite unexpectedly but instead are foreshadowed and make sense within the framework of Lily's life.
Early on, there is a scene of an unexpected, shocking suicide. It was well-done. It wasn't explained. And it wasn't sugar-coated. It was a visceral scene in some ways, because it seemed to put Lily in a certain lane where she then stayed for a long time, until she was derailed again. There were a number of such scenes in the book - and also a lot of disappearing characters.
Tom Murphy chose to incorporate a lot of characters that we met, liked, then lost along the way, never to be seen again. It is interesting, because most authors choose to keep a lot of friends for their main characters. Lily, realistically, loses many friends, even most of them, along the way. 90% of them never turn up again or even write! It's life I guess, but also worse. The isolation Lily experiences is a lot more than a healthy sympathetic person would experience. It never seems quite right that no one ever reaches out to Lily when she moves from one place to the next. One tiny letter would do! She finds friends, loses them forever, is alone again.
The first half of the book isn't speedy, but the trajectory is not unknown. Even though we follow Lily chronologically through her life (and Brooks too) you can always feel and smell the trainwreck in the distance. I really, really felt for Lily. She is a great person. I would love to be her friend. Yet no one else does.
She becomes Lily Cigar eventually, and her way there was believable. The El Dorado was also one of the most enthusiastic, detailed and richly described ideals of what the perfect whorehouse would be, that I ever read. It is fantastical because of course whorehouses suck and that's a fact. But in a cinematic way, the portrayal worked seamlessly in Lily's story and I'll forgive the nice-washing.
Lily hates being a whore. She isn't quite religious, although she does talk about angels a lot. Her understanding of religion is an emotional thing, as if God were her disapproving mother watching her from heaven. For Lily, what she hates is also what God hates and vice versa. She doesn't judge others much, if at all (a nice change from the usual bible slapping heroines) and has little to no understanding of what the bible actually says. There is a scene where she does mention Mary Magdalene and the forgiveness of sin, but it seems to be for other ears, and never her own. I found hers to be an interesting portrayal of personal religion that is non-invasive, but unfortunately also seems to harm her more than it helps her.
Brooks ... yeah, he's the bible-thumping hero. I'm close to hating him, but I don't care quite enough. Brooks is from a very old, very rich family. He is "well-bred", which in Europe would mean inbred, stupid and ugly. Being bred well means being bred in a small circle of families which invariably leads not to refinement, but weakness of the bones, the brain the immune system, among other diseases. I am putting a strong point on this because breeding is discussed in the book. As if well-bred humans were fine horses. But they aren't. Fine horses are interbred with other horses that will support all the strong and good features of that horse. Inbreeding is avoided. For humans, the opposite is true. Any stupid and diseased hideous monster is great marriage material so long as he or she comes from another branch of the same family and brings money. No one, not even Tom Murphy, can convince me that good looks are a sign of inbreeding. Because the opposite is true. Still, wouldn't it be grand if princes and princesses were the prettiest and most amazing of all? I guess in this particular dreamworld they not only are, but it also has to be discussed how generations of good breeding led to this.
Brooks is inbred, then, and it shows. Not in his marvelous good looks but in his sniveling idealism, his complete lack of spine and his rigid moral code (which he breaks but others can't). This golden prince is so sheltered that he thinks war is a lot of things but not a dumpster fire of misery (but it is). He thinks marriage is a walk in the park with the perfect woman by his side (it is not). He thinks his happiness means everyone is happy (they're not).
Brooks is presented initially as Jack Wallingford's (a nouveau-riche) best friend. Where Jack is rakish, drunk, party-going, whoring and unreliable, Brooks is shown as the noble, old money opposite. It works at first, but not quite. Jack does have redeeming qualities, at least initially. It won't be for a long time that he will become a hideous monster as to better offset his inbred friend.
Brooks has few characteristics of his own, except looks and he's nice, I suppose. He idolizes his brother. Then he falls madly in love and does everything to secure the girl he has chosen to fullfill his vision of perfect bliss.
Her name is Caroline. Though that's also my name, it's not the only reason why I feel partial toward her. Caroline is a free spirit. Southern, but not unreflected, she is sharp, knows what she wants and lives her life. She is often quite depressed and Brooks doesn't get it. Brooks not getting her and still wanting to marry her at all cost makes him really really complicit in his heart's demise. In the entire marriage, he makes NO effort to really understand Caroline. Instead, he showers her with gifts, lets her throw one party after another, and talks her down when she expresses real worry about the male relatives she has going to war against Brooks and his northern brothers. No wonder she's depressed and numbing herself to everything, if she can't talk to anyone about it!
Again, Caroline is shown to have a number of personality traits that later disappear completely, because her complexity makes Brooks look like an idiot. Caroline, unlike Brooks, sees the war for what it is. Brooks just sees her as the woman he loves - stress being on the woman part, of course. Caroline is no lesser man than Brooks, on the contrary. Which is why she inevitably gets shallower and demonized.
Both Jack and Caroline where more interesting characters than Brooks and they also moved the plot forward, while he was only ever moved by the plot. Except for once, when he uncharacteristically decides to move to San Francisco, where he meets Lily. Their meeting is so orchestrated it was nearly painful, except Lily deserves happiness and I'm okay with whatever gets her there.
Mind you, at that point the book is nearly over. Lily is a made woman, she has achieved everything. Brooks, dumb dilettante that he is, has achieved zilch in that time except lose a friend and wallow in misery over his unexpectedly broken heart.
Their romance is such a let down, good god. They don't talk. Again, Brooks holds a speech (this time about the whore of Babylon). I wanted to shoot him in the face. Lily was sympathetic. Because she knows real pain and she doesn't know that Brooks doesn't know shit. Brooks blabs on. Somehow the whole one-sided "talk" was romantic. It wasn't. They were together then, and LILY COULDN'T TELL THE TRUTH. Why? For fear of shattering Brooks' fragile sensibilities. Fuck Brooks and his fragile ego and his fragile masculinity and his general fragility. What is he, a porcelain doll? Later, Brooks pressures Lily into doing things she doesn't want to do because he thinks its best and men know best. Except Brooks doesn't know shit. He's a dumb, fragile little turd. I want to squash him.
Brooks' fragility later indirectly causes the death of one more person Lily loves. He never gets blamed, not even indirectly. It all could've been prevented if Brooks actually listened to female characters when they talk. But he doesn't want that. It doesn't fit his mindset or his ideals or his aesthetic. He's a pathetic little wuss and every moment I spend thinking about him I am more outraged about how he thinks Caroline treated him badly, when he had it coming! He's a petty egotistical jerk! He even fights with farmers about a miscommunication. He sucks! And he doesn't even let Lily say her piece. Poor Lily. It's good she lived in a time where emotional support wasn't expected from husbands. Otherwise she would have realized how false her infatuation was and put Brooks on the street or thrown him into the sea.
Also, the last 150 pages nearly forced this book down to three stars all the way from five, what with 50 years being crammed in and all.
Sadly, I can't say much good about Brooks. The golden boy who caught Lily's heart is an intense letdown. I don't like him. While he had his own POV and his own story, it was fine, but once he met Lily, their relationship just sucked. Because Brooks sucks. Lily deserved so much better than this well bred imbecile.
Lily Malone is orphaned at 10, and from then on, but for a short interlude at the orphanage, which was ok, her life sucked more than it had before. What happens to her is just the slow grind of fate and most turns for the worse don't come quite unexpectedly but instead are foreshadowed and make sense within the framework of Lily's life.
Early on, there is a scene of an unexpected, shocking suicide. It was well-done. It wasn't explained. And it wasn't sugar-coated. It was a visceral scene in some ways, because it seemed to put Lily in a certain lane where she then stayed for a long time, until she was derailed again. There were a number of such scenes in the book - and also a lot of disappearing characters.
Tom Murphy chose to incorporate a lot of characters that we met, liked, then lost along the way, never to be seen again. It is interesting, because most authors choose to keep a lot of friends for their main characters. Lily, realistically, loses many friends, even most of them, along the way. 90% of them never turn up again or even write! It's life I guess, but also worse. The isolation Lily experiences is a lot more than a healthy sympathetic person would experience. It never seems quite right that no one ever reaches out to Lily when she moves from one place to the next. One tiny letter would do! She finds friends, loses them forever, is alone again.
The first half of the book isn't speedy, but the trajectory is not unknown. Even though we follow Lily chronologically through her life (and Brooks too) you can always feel and smell the trainwreck in the distance. I really, really felt for Lily. She is a great person. I would love to be her friend. Yet no one else does.
She becomes Lily Cigar eventually, and her way there was believable. The El Dorado was also one of the most enthusiastic, detailed and richly described ideals of what the perfect whorehouse would be, that I ever read. It is fantastical because of course whorehouses suck and that's a fact. But in a cinematic way, the portrayal worked seamlessly in Lily's story and I'll forgive the nice-washing.
Lily hates being a whore. She isn't quite religious, although she does talk about angels a lot. Her understanding of religion is an emotional thing, as if God were her disapproving mother watching her from heaven. For Lily, what she hates is also what God hates and vice versa. She doesn't judge others much, if at all (a nice change from the usual bible slapping heroines) and has little to no understanding of what the bible actually says. There is a scene where she does mention Mary Magdalene and the forgiveness of sin, but it seems to be for other ears, and never her own. I found hers to be an interesting portrayal of personal religion that is non-invasive, but unfortunately also seems to harm her more than it helps her.
Brooks ... yeah, he's the bible-thumping hero. I'm close to hating him, but I don't care quite enough. Brooks is from a very old, very rich family. He is "well-bred", which in Europe would mean inbred, stupid and ugly. Being bred well means being bred in a small circle of families which invariably leads not to refinement, but weakness of the bones, the brain the immune system, among other diseases. I am putting a strong point on this because breeding is discussed in the book. As if well-bred humans were fine horses. But they aren't. Fine horses are interbred with other horses that will support all the strong and good features of that horse. Inbreeding is avoided. For humans, the opposite is true. Any stupid and diseased hideous monster is great marriage material so long as he or she comes from another branch of the same family and brings money. No one, not even Tom Murphy, can convince me that good looks are a sign of inbreeding. Because the opposite is true. Still, wouldn't it be grand if princes and princesses were the prettiest and most amazing of all? I guess in this particular dreamworld they not only are, but it also has to be discussed how generations of good breeding led to this.
Brooks is inbred, then, and it shows. Not in his marvelous good looks but in his sniveling idealism, his complete lack of spine and his rigid moral code (which he breaks but others can't). This golden prince is so sheltered that he thinks war is a lot of things but not a dumpster fire of misery (but it is). He thinks marriage is a walk in the park with the perfect woman by his side (it is not). He thinks his happiness means everyone is happy (they're not).
Brooks is presented initially as Jack Wallingford's (a nouveau-riche) best friend. Where Jack is rakish, drunk, party-going, whoring and unreliable, Brooks is shown as the noble, old money opposite. It works at first, but not quite. Jack does have redeeming qualities, at least initially. It won't be for a long time that he will become a hideous monster as to better offset his inbred friend.
Brooks has few characteristics of his own, except looks and he's nice, I suppose. He idolizes his brother. Then he falls madly in love and does everything to secure the girl he has chosen to fullfill his vision of perfect bliss.
Her name is Caroline. Though that's also my name, it's not the only reason why I feel partial toward her. Caroline is a free spirit. Southern, but not unreflected, she is sharp, knows what she wants and lives her life. She is often quite depressed and Brooks doesn't get it. Brooks not getting her and still wanting to marry her at all cost makes him really really complicit in his heart's demise. In the entire marriage, he makes NO effort to really understand Caroline. Instead, he showers her with gifts, lets her throw one party after another, and talks her down when she expresses real worry about the male relatives she has going to war against Brooks and his northern brothers. No wonder she's depressed and numbing herself to everything, if she can't talk to anyone about it!
Again, Caroline is shown to have a number of personality traits that later disappear completely, because her complexity makes Brooks look like an idiot. Caroline, unlike Brooks, sees the war for what it is. Brooks just sees her as the woman he loves - stress being on the woman part, of course. Caroline is no lesser man than Brooks, on the contrary. Which is why she inevitably gets shallower and demonized.
Both Jack and Caroline where more interesting characters than Brooks and they also moved the plot forward, while he was only ever moved by the plot. Except for once, when he uncharacteristically decides to move to San Francisco, where he meets Lily. Their meeting is so orchestrated it was nearly painful, except Lily deserves happiness and I'm okay with whatever gets her there.
Mind you, at that point the book is nearly over. Lily is a made woman, she has achieved everything. Brooks, dumb dilettante that he is, has achieved zilch in that time except lose a friend and wallow in misery over his unexpectedly broken heart.
Their romance is such a let down, good god. They don't talk. Again, Brooks holds a speech (this time about the whore of Babylon). I wanted to shoot him in the face. Lily was sympathetic. Because she knows real pain and she doesn't know that Brooks doesn't know shit. Brooks blabs on. Somehow the whole one-sided "talk" was romantic. It wasn't. They were together then, and LILY COULDN'T TELL THE TRUTH. Why? For fear of shattering Brooks' fragile sensibilities. Fuck Brooks and his fragile ego and his fragile masculinity and his general fragility. What is he, a porcelain doll? Later, Brooks pressures Lily into doing things she doesn't want to do because he thinks its best and men know best. Except Brooks doesn't know shit. He's a dumb, fragile little turd. I want to squash him.
Brooks' fragility later indirectly causes the death of one more person Lily loves. He never gets blamed, not even indirectly. It all could've been prevented if Brooks actually listened to female characters when they talk. But he doesn't want that. It doesn't fit his mindset or his ideals or his aesthetic. He's a pathetic little wuss and every moment I spend thinking about him I am more outraged about how he thinks Caroline treated him badly, when he had it coming! He's a petty egotistical jerk! He even fights with farmers about a miscommunication. He sucks! And he doesn't even let Lily say her piece. Poor Lily. It's good she lived in a time where emotional support wasn't expected from husbands. Otherwise she would have realized how false her infatuation was and put Brooks on the street or thrown him into the sea.
Also, the last 150 pages nearly forced this book down to three stars all the way from five, what with 50 years being crammed in and all.
March 24, 2011
Wow, wow, wow. Just loved it.
October 30, 2014
Pretty good, but for some reason I've never been a big fan of family sagas. I don't like reading about the main characters getting old. I want the story to stop before that. I also really don't want to read about their deaths. What's the point of all that?
It also took 75% of the book before the heroine and hero met up with each other again. So I didn't really get why it took that long to set that up. It was annoying and unnecessary.
I probably would have given this three stars except for one situation that occurred in the book and really soured me on the heroine. Lily Cigar stabbed her best friend and savior in the back about halfway through and I could never forgive her for that. For someone that the author described as honest, just, with a solid moral compass, she really didn't act like it. And she just got forgiven immediately by everyone for her decision. Ugh. Where was her loyalty?
It also took 75% of the book before the heroine and hero met up with each other again. So I didn't really get why it took that long to set that up. It was annoying and unnecessary.
I probably would have given this three stars except for one situation that occurred in the book and really soured me on the heroine. Lily Cigar stabbed her best friend and savior in the back about halfway through and I could never forgive her for that. For someone that the author described as honest, just, with a solid moral compass, she really didn't act like it. And she just got forgiven immediately by everyone for her decision. Ugh. Where was her loyalty?
January 29, 2016
A captivating rags to riches tale that vividly chronicles life in mid-nineteenth century New York and post Gold Rush era San Francisco. Lily's rise from impoverished orphan to fabulously wealthy prostitute and entrepreneur is improbably easy which makes the last third of this historical epic drag some but taken as a whole this was a highly entertaining story.
Murphy does a really good job fleshing out the plot with well written period detail and a large cast of colorful supporting characters.
Murphy does a really good job fleshing out the plot with well written period detail and a large cast of colorful supporting characters.
January 25, 2022
Dnf at 25 % mark.
March 23, 2015
Mixed bag
Just to start, I would have given Lilia Cigar 3 stars, but for the editing. I know that kindle books do not have the same editing quality as paper; however, at one point the book was missing 12 pages!
Aside for editing Lily Cigar is an enjoyable epic novel. It manages to cover an entire lifetime and both coasts. The story of Lily is moving and tragic. She is a strong and likeable character.
I have 2 main criticisms. The first is that the period of time from when Lily turns to prostitution onwards feels rushed. The beginning of the story is full of wonderful detail and then time flies by in a flash.
Second, the other characters in the story are clearly completely secondary. When they are not interacting with Lily they disappear without so much as a letter.
Overall I will read Lily Cigar again because it was enjoyable but it could have been so much better.
Just to start, I would have given Lilia Cigar 3 stars, but for the editing. I know that kindle books do not have the same editing quality as paper; however, at one point the book was missing 12 pages!
Aside for editing Lily Cigar is an enjoyable epic novel. It manages to cover an entire lifetime and both coasts. The story of Lily is moving and tragic. She is a strong and likeable character.
I have 2 main criticisms. The first is that the period of time from when Lily turns to prostitution onwards feels rushed. The beginning of the story is full of wonderful detail and then time flies by in a flash.
Second, the other characters in the story are clearly completely secondary. When they are not interacting with Lily they disappear without so much as a letter.
Overall I will read Lily Cigar again because it was enjoyable but it could have been so much better.
April 11, 2011
Rise from rags and orphanage in late 19th, early 20th century to riches and cream of society with quifew turns in the road. Part of it paralleled the civil war era and the attitudes of some of the participants. Also what happened in their lives as a result. The book held my attention until about the last few chapters, then for me, the larger than life aspect went a little too far. The story although it focused on one person was almost an epic of three generations in one family in particular. Characters and settings were well presented and very well defined. The attitudes and rebellion at some of the strictures of the 19th century morality and how the effects should be treated was also well done and effectively drew the reader in. The book also kept a basic positive undertone even with some unhappy events. This is definitely an historical romance.
April 16, 2011
A very entertaining, nostalgic, rags-to-riches saga with a spirited, indefatigable heroine in Lily. Forty years ago I would have swallowed this tale hook, line, and sinker. Today, I prefer characters and plot lines that are a little more multi-dimensional, complex, and true to life. However, this was an enjoyable, well-written book. Four stars for Lily Cigar - truly a hidden gem in classic historical fiction!
December 7, 2011
What a wonderful, wonderful read! Highly recommended for those who love long, riveting family sagas. This one is definitely going on my keeper shelf for a reread at a later date. What intriguing characterization and amazing descriptions. I felt like I was there with the characters. Can't praise this one enough!
May 14, 2015
The beginning was great, I found their lives fascinating, and felt the fear as they walked into the orphanage. Then it just went downhill. Reading about someone who is a repulsive human, but she worships him cause he's her brother, and other behavior I find stupid, it all just lost me.
I finished it, so it wasn't horrible, just wish the good part was more than four chapters.
I finished it, so it wasn't horrible, just wish the good part was more than four chapters.
February 16, 2019
I picked up this book in the Nook store on my tablet because it seemed interesting and it was on sale for $1.99. My personal review of the book is as follows:
Lilly's life(Yes, I know that it's fictional) story was at many times(in my personal opinion) more fantastic than could have been realistically believable was none the less a "Tour De Force" in perseverance, commitment, and trusting in yourself and your dreams because no matter how bleak your life may be or seen to be at the moment you can never truly know where you'll find yourself at it's end, I hope that I have as much courage and strength as Lilly does. Overall I personally rate this book a 8 and a half out of 10.
Lilly's life(Yes, I know that it's fictional) story was at many times(in my personal opinion) more fantastic than could have been realistically believable was none the less a "Tour De Force" in perseverance, commitment, and trusting in yourself and your dreams because no matter how bleak your life may be or seen to be at the moment you can never truly know where you'll find yourself at it's end, I hope that I have as much courage and strength as Lilly does. Overall I personally rate this book a 8 and a half out of 10.
July 2, 2020
Lily Cigar
First time to read the writings of Tom Murphy and such fine writings they are. Lily Cigar is a wonderfully written story. Lily is orphaned at an early age and brought to a Catholic orphanage to live a few years later she becomes a maid servant of a very wealthy family and so lily's journey of growing up begins. Pregnant at an early she must become a lady of the evening to support her child and save for a better life. And oh what a life Lily has. A very hard life but a wonderful adventure. The many characters in the story are wonderful. Enjoyed this story so much.
First time to read the writings of Tom Murphy and such fine writings they are. Lily Cigar is a wonderfully written story. Lily is orphaned at an early age and brought to a Catholic orphanage to live a few years later she becomes a maid servant of a very wealthy family and so lily's journey of growing up begins. Pregnant at an early she must become a lady of the evening to support her child and save for a better life. And oh what a life Lily has. A very hard life but a wonderful adventure. The many characters in the story are wonderful. Enjoyed this story so much.
July 8, 2019
Really enjoyed the first half of the book when Lily truly struggled. During the second half I felt annoyed with some of her actions. Found myself skimming quite a bit.
It wasn’t until I was updating my progress on my reading here on GR that I found out this book is actually from the 70’s! If I’d seen the original cover art I probably wouldn’t have read it. I’m a sucker for cover art!
It wasn’t until I was updating my progress on my reading here on GR that I found out this book is actually from the 70’s! If I’d seen the original cover art I probably wouldn’t have read it. I’m a sucker for cover art!
September 2, 2023
Gut Grabbing
Was it just me? Or did other readers tear up at Lily Tiger's strength, love, and willingness to adapt again and again? I hearty recommend this book, especially to soft hearted readers.
Was it just me? Or did other readers tear up at Lily Tiger's strength, love, and willingness to adapt again and again? I hearty recommend this book, especially to soft hearted readers.
July 21, 2018
A story that starts in 1850s New York and goes to San Francisco during the Gold Rush years, the 1906 earthquake and ends after WWI. The life and odyssey of Lily Malone.
June 23, 2019
It was too long, however, an interesting story.
January 30, 2015
If you would like an excellent fictional read about the early days of San Francisco, choose this novel. This is the story of Lily Cigar, a prominent prostitute who dreamed only of leaving the profession. Her fame both opened and closed doors as she lived in and near the city. Lily and her brother were sent to an orphanage when her mother died. Her life moves from there to the home of a wealthy family whose son impregnates her forcing her to leave. Moving to San Francisco with its rough wealth seeding population, she at last takes the only route to survival vowing to leave the profession as soon as she saves enough to do so. The author describes life in this wild and rapidly growing environment from muddy streets to paved. Lily learns what life as a young woman must be in a city were few women survive except through wealth or prostitution. I recommend this book without reservation. It's a delightful and enlightening read about a fascinating period in our history.
February 9, 2015
It was interesting reading a book about the life of this woman and see how its handled from a male author's point of view. At times I was puzzled as to why the author would focus on certain things and not others. This was quite noticeable during the sex scenes. I feel that a woman author would have focused, in detail, on the lovemaking scenes and glossed over her sex scenes as a whore. I often found this book quite depressing and would skim in hopes of finding something happy. I liked the overall arch of the story but won't be seeking out this author's other books.
January 31, 2015
This book seemed extremely long to me. I did enjoy it, but I felt it could have been almost a couple of hundred pages shorter. I almost feel as if I had read it before. Maybe it's because I've read quite a few books set around San Francisco and the big quake. It was well worth the week and a half it took me to read it though.
December 14, 2014
I loved Lily, the main character. This book was predictable and often took a long time getting to what you knew was going to happen but there were also some captivating moments. I love historical fiction and although this was a bit drawn out, it was good.
April 14, 2015
Fantastic story, I really loved the story of what Lily went to and how she raised above all that to become a smart and wealthy woman. Although the ending was good I think I would have wanted it to end differently. I will be reading more books by Tom Murphy.
April 3, 2015
Excellent novel
At first I thought this was an undercover Christian novel but although there are some undertones this is far from that type of novel. Well written and engaging this novel had a bit of everything.
At first I thought this was an undercover Christian novel but although there are some undertones this is far from that type of novel. Well written and engaging this novel had a bit of everything.
January 31, 2015
REALLY enjoyed this life-saga! 4.4 stars.
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