Madam: a novel of New Orleans

"New Orleans, 1897. Mary Deubler makes a meager living on Venus Alley, the illegal red light district. That all changes when bible-thumping Alderman Sidney Story forces the creation of a legalized district of vice that's mockingly dubbed "Storyville" in his honor. Despite her looks and intelligence, Mary doesn't think she can make it on Basin Street, where girls turn tricks in plush, velvet wallpapered bordellos. But thanks to gumption, twists of fate, even a touch of voodoo, Mary rises above her hopeless lot to become the notorious Madam Josie Arlington. Filled with fascinating historical details and cameos by Jelly Roll Morton, Louie Armstrong, and photographer E. J. Bellocq, Madam is a fabulous romp through The Big Easy and the irresistible tale of a woman's rise to influence and infamy in a world ruled by men"--