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The cry from street to street
8vo. ex library copy. Ffep missing. marks to pages 69 - 74.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Hilary Bailey
52 books7 followersHilary Bailey was a British writer, critic and editor.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 4, 2022
A very candid, shocking, realistic and heartbreaking novel about prostitution and poverty in East End London in the 1880s.
Told as a first person account by a former prostitute and madam , Mary Kelly, a child of the East End returning to her home after eight years in Canada, to search for her sister.
At this time a number of defenseless prostitutes are gruesomely murdered and mutilated in London.
Mary gets caught up in a game beyond her wildest nightmares, eventually coming face to fact with Jack the Ripper.
What this novel brings to life is the appalling destitution and suffering and destitution of the British proletariat at the time.
Leading Mary to observe it was a surprise that any child brought up in these conditions could grow up 'decent'.
Considering that the British poor suffered as much as any Africans or Asians in the Empire of the time, it seems to me a great injustice that the British working classes should have to be penalized for the white guilt of the middle classes in the form of 'positive discrimination' (an anomaly that) and money for foreign aid.
What also struck me here is how things have so little changed in regards to the callous lack of value given to lives of prostitutes, dismissing any compassion for these unfortunate women and girls , many who have to sell their bodies to survive.
The attitude that the rippers victims were 'only tarts' that some observers in the novel voice is sadly prevalent today.
Until we as a society can learn compassion for all the most vulnerable in our society, we cannot claim to be a humanitarian society.
Told as a first person account by a former prostitute and madam , Mary Kelly, a child of the East End returning to her home after eight years in Canada, to search for her sister.
At this time a number of defenseless prostitutes are gruesomely murdered and mutilated in London.
Mary gets caught up in a game beyond her wildest nightmares, eventually coming face to fact with Jack the Ripper.
What this novel brings to life is the appalling destitution and suffering and destitution of the British proletariat at the time.
Leading Mary to observe it was a surprise that any child brought up in these conditions could grow up 'decent'.
Considering that the British poor suffered as much as any Africans or Asians in the Empire of the time, it seems to me a great injustice that the British working classes should have to be penalized for the white guilt of the middle classes in the form of 'positive discrimination' (an anomaly that) and money for foreign aid.
What also struck me here is how things have so little changed in regards to the callous lack of value given to lives of prostitutes, dismissing any compassion for these unfortunate women and girls , many who have to sell their bodies to survive.
The attitude that the rippers victims were 'only tarts' that some observers in the novel voice is sadly prevalent today.
Until we as a society can learn compassion for all the most vulnerable in our society, we cannot claim to be a humanitarian society.
January 17, 2018
very interesting
February 14, 2011
I loved the protagonist in this book and felt she had a delightful voice. Bailey is a wonderful writer and deserves more acclaim than she seems to enjoy.
May 6, 2012
Good novel idea but disappointing execution. Esteemed novelists get lazy.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews