After a couple of stressful months, the book has finally found a new house in Flame Arrow Publishing, a Canadian independent press about stories of resilience, resistance and rebirth.
Hardcovers and paperbacks sold through the pre-order will be signed by me, probably in a pink glittery pen.
Audiobook details: Narrated by Cleo Birch, she's a gem, her voice is amazing, and I'm so glad to have her on this project. Kickstarter backers will have their audiobook, everyone else can preorder here.
Mrs. Victoria buys a brothel
1865, United States— It took thirty years and a dislocated arm for Victoria to leave her abusive husband. Heartbroken, she has to choose her own life over the hope of ever seeing her son again. She escapes the manor in the dead of night, only bringing with her a white wedding dress.
She ends up in Swainsburg, a minuscule town in Wyoming, where she’s adopted by the local prostitutes. To save them from expulsion, she buys the building and learns that in these parts, entertainment is worth more than gold. It’s almost easy, even fun, to organize piano recitals and cancan shows for the cowboys of the area, but being a Madam comes with responsibilities and dangers she isn’t ready to face. Her husband, after all, has contacts everywhere.
It’s hard to navigate the delicate tensions between respectable ladies and whores, between white society and the ‘others.’ Her new friends are women who carved their place in this merciless life; people who, like her, ended up in Swainsburg when they got tired of running.
Victoria doesn’t notice, can’t even imagine the possibility; but she falls in love. The townfolk say the widow Díaz is strange, but Natane is actually incredibly awkward, kind, and very lonely. Victoria has no name for this burning friendship, but the feeling grows and demands to be acknowledged.
This is a story about women who age, gossip, drink, love... and help you hide the body of your dead husband.
(Victoria in white, Natane in black)
If you've read the book and loved it, share it with your friends! This story needs to reach its audience.
Middle-aged women falling in love
A deconstruction of the cowboy mythos and how it was actually a tool of colonization that hurt the very people who built the American West by erasing Indigenous people, women, and people who weren't white; and how women can survive the patriarchy and thrive by building community and dancing cancan and maybe murder?
and every reblog is appreciated :D
Thanks to everyone who's been with me and Victoria so far, let's keep this party going!
