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Written by Virginia Freedman
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Thursday, 26 March 2009 23:19 |
The Wet Nurse's Tale
Erica Eisdorfer
Putnam
August 6, 2009
0399155767
This Victorian-era tale belongs to Susan Rose, street-smart, too plump,
illiterate and lovable. After losing her first baby, Susan Rose finds her
keep as a wet nurse. She is thrust into houses where she examines her
employers' foibles and manipulates them to get what she wants. When her
alcoholic father sells her second baby, Susan embarks on a rollicking and
dangerous journey to rescue the mite from the hands of a wealthy London
madwoman. How does a servant girl-even one with smarts and plenty of
guile-go head to head with the powerful lady of the house without losing
what's dearest to her? Interspersed between the chapters of this
well-researched novel is what the author calls a "between chapter;" a
two-page vignette by a character, unseen in the rest of the book, who
describes the reason he or she sought the services of a wet nurse, whether
that reason was health, work or simply the style of the times.
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Hat's Off!
One of Mark Smith-Soto's poems was featured on Ted Kooser's online and syndicated column, American Life In Poetry. [www.americanlifeinpoetry.org]. |
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