It was with sadness that I learnt the writer and poet Maya Angelou passed away a few days ago. Born Marguerite Ann Johnson, this incredible woman had an extraordinary life. It didn’t start well though… At the age of 7, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. When she told her family, the man was convicted of the crime, and promptly murdered, most likely by Maya’s uncles. The trauma of this tragedy caused her to be mute for…
Tag: prostitute
Emma Donoghue
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Frog Music by Emma Donoghue
It is the end of summer 1876, and San Francisco has been struck by a heat wave and a smallpox epidemic. Jenny Bonnet, a frog-hunting woman dressed in men’s clothes, is riding her bicycle when she collides with Blanche Beunon, a burlesque dancer and prostitute. This is the start of an unexpected friendship that will end a month later when Jenny is shot dead in a saloon at San Miguel Station. Blanche is…