BOOK INFORMATION
Book Title: The Redemption of Mattie Silks
Author: Kimberly Burns
Publication Date: October 25, 2023
Publisher: Thomas Bard Publishing
Page Length: 315
Genre: Historical Fiction
HISTORICAL RESEARCH OF THE UNDERWORLD
Painted ladies, soiled doves, jeweled birds… How do you research a historical topic that people didn’t like to talk about, referring to it in veiled terms?
My latest novel, The Redemption of Mattie Silks, is based on the true story of the Old West’s most successful madam and her feud with notorious con man Soapy Smith. While over one hundred books and magazine articles were written about Smith and his gang, less was written about Mattie and her shady ladies. To learn about these gals, I had to walk the streets (so to speak).
I visited three of the four museums of Old West prostitution. I prowled the avenues and allies of Denver and Skagway, Alaska. The staffs at the Denver Public Library and History Colorado, the state history museum, were wonderful about sharing their knowledge, resources, and opinions. I found and read eleven books on the topic. Finally I googled subjects like “contraception in 1800s” and “home remedies for STD.” I’m pretty sure that now I am on a government watch list as a big weirdo.
Through all this research, I did learn an eyebrow-raising a thing or two. For example, there was a strict hierarchy among the demimonde. Among those who sold themselves, parlor house fancy women sat atop that precarious pyramid. They were the most beautiful and well-mannered and were expected to be entertaining. They often began each evening acting as hostesses to gentlemen callers. In the front sitting room, they made conversation, played games, or performed music.
Parlor house madams ran their businesses as efficiently as any modern corporation. Mattie Silks realized she could charge a premium for healthy, clean, nicely dressed, well-fed girls. So she purchased elegant gowns for her ladies of the evening on credit. They paid her back from their wages. Mattie also offered her employees two meals a day, provided laundry service, and had a doctor on retainer who conducted monthly exams. This 1890s version of a benefits package was far better than factory workers received.
Below parlor houses were common brothels or bordellos where the women’s profit lay in volume. Living by the old adage that time is money, these gals burned seven-minute candles to signal the end of a gentleman’s visit.
At the bottom the social heap were crib girls who operated out of small rooms and streetwalkers who transacted business wherever they could. It was nearly impossible to improve one’s position on this career path. Most women “tumbled down the row,” moving to increasingly grimier circumstances as they aged and lost their good looks.
Not all goodtime girls were prostitutes. Hurdy-gurdy, saloon, and dancehall girls were paid for dancing and earned a percentage from the drinks they sold. However, some saloons had rooms upstairs where girls sold their favors. As a result, dancers developed a bad reputation. The saloon girls of Cripple Creek, Colorado, were so offended by the insulting assumption they were of loose morals they banded together and formed the Dance Hall Girls’ Protective Association. They wrote letters and petitioned the local government to recognize theirs as a legitimate occupation and not a crime. It must have worked. The police stopped arresting the dancers.
Old Hollywood movies glamorized and sanitized the lives of Old West working girls. In reality there were few career choices for females in the 1800s—school teacher, servant, nurse, prostitute, or wife. Although vice could pay the best, the life of a fallen angel was dangerous and short. Any woman considering a life of ill-repute had at least a thread of desperation running through her. As my character Mattie Silks believes, “Working as a madam was a profession, but working as a prostitute was an act of self-preservation.”
BLURB
Seeking redemption, she finds retribution
In 1892, running one of the West’s fanciest brothels is a rough game. In a town filled with brazen criminals, corrupt police, zealous politicians, and morality committees, Madam Mattie Silks makes her fortune catering to Colorado’s gold and silver millionaires.
Notorious crime boss “Soapy” Smith is at the top of the Denver underworld. There are no rules for Smith’s gang. They solve problems with bribes and bullets. When Mattie’s husband stumbles into Soapy’s dealings, she struggles to protect him.
Gold is discovered in the Yukon and Mattie seizes the opportunity for adventure and profit. But Skagway, Alaska, is even more lawless than Denver. Mattie must use all her business sense and street smarts to safeguard those she cares about. Will it be enough? Or will Lady Justice again turn a blind eye?
Based on a true story, The Redemption of Mattie Silks is an action-packed tale of a woman succeeding in a man’s world even when the cards are stacked against her.
“The research on the era shines through, as do the grit and spirit of the characters. …A colorful and enthralling journey.” ~ K.T. Blakemore, award-winning author of The Good Time Girls series
“A nice, nuanced portrait of the complex underworld with fine and witty turns of phrase. A great Western romp!” ~ Randi Samuelson-Brown, award-winning author of The Bad Old Days series
BUY LINKS
This title is available to read with #KindleUnlimited
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/mlpKRv
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kimberly Burns grew up in Colorado hearing stories about the colourful characters of the Old West. She has degrees from the University of Colorado and the University of Hartford. Kimberly is a member of the Historical Novel Society, Western Writers of America, and Women Writing the West. She lives with her husband and black Lab in Leesburg, Virginia.
Her debut novel The Mrs. Tabor won numerous awards including the Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award for Best New Novel, a gold medal for Best Regional Fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, a National Indie Excellence Award, and a silver medal from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Awards.
Kimberly and her unruly heroines make for an entertaining book talk. She is available to discuss her novels with book groups in person or online. Email her at info@kimberlyburnsauthor.com.
AUTHOR LINKS
Website: www.kimberlyburnsauthor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072454670660
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimberlyburnsauthor/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kimberly-Burns/author/B09G4S8N2L
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21851914.Kimberly_Burns
Even a clever matchmaker may need a push in the right direction if she’s to find true love. When she’s asked to find a match for herself, it proves to be the most difficult task she’s ever undertaken.
Heidi Eljarbo is the award-winning author of dual-timeline historical fiction with heartwarming clean romance, wit, and adventurous mystery.
BOOK INFORMATION
This collection of eleven tales offers dramatic pinpricks in the rich tapestry of London’s timeline, a city with two thousand years of history. They are glimpses of imagined lives at key moments, starting with a prologue in verse from the point of view of a native Briton tribeswoman absorbing the shock of Roman invasion. The first story is a tense historical adventure set in Roman Londinium in 60 CE from the perspective of terrified legionaries and townsfolk facing the vengeful Iceni queen, Boudica, whose army burnt the fledgling city to the ground.
Tim Walker is an independent author living near Windsor in the UK. Although born in Hong Kong in the sixties, he grew up in Liverpool where he began his working life as a trainee reporter on a local newspaper. After attaining a degree in Communication Studies he moved to London where he worked in the newspaper publishing industry for ten years before relocating to Zambia where, following a period of voluntary work with VSO, he set up his own marketing and publishing business. He returned to the UK in 2009.
BOOK INFORMATION
A sweeping wartime tale of secrets and love, mystery and redemption, moving from the snow-capped Himalayas to the steamy heat of battle in the Burmese jungle.
During my research for that book, I came across a photograph of a group of women, operating a mobile canteen out of an old, converted Chevrolet lorry near the battle lines during the Burma campaign.
Ann Bennett is a British author of historical fiction. She was born in Pury End, a small village in Northamptonshire, UK and now lives in Surrey. Her first book, Bamboo Heart: A Daughter’s Quest, was inspired by researching her father’s experience as a prisoner of war on the Thai-Burma Railway. Bamboo Island: The Planter’s Wife, A Daughter’s Promise and Bamboo Road:The Homecoming, The Tea Panter’s Club and The Amulet are also about the war in South East Asia, which together with The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu make up the Echoes of Empire Collection.
Exile: a risky defiance, a perilous journey, a family’s tragic choice – or an individual’s final gamble to live. Exile: voluntary or enforced, a falling-out between friends, a lost first love, a prejudiced betrayal – or the only way to survive persecution?
Madame Pommery is a story of a woman’s indomitable spirit in the face of insurmountable odds. Set in Champagne, France in 1860, Madame Pommery is a forty-year-old widow and etiquette teacher whose husband has passed away. Now she must find a way to support her family. With no experience, she decides to make champagne, but no champagne makers will teach her their craft. Undeterred, Madame Pommery begins to secretly excavate champagne caves under the Reims city dump and faces numerous obstacles to achieve her dream. From the Franco-Prussian war that conscripts her son and crew to the Prussian General Frederick Franz occupying her home, Madame Pommery perseveres. She even must choose between her champagne dreams and a marriage proposal from her former lover, a Scottish Baron. Inspired by a true story, Madame Pommery is a heroic tale of a woman’s strength and determination to create a champagne legacy. If you enjoyed the novel Sarah’s Key, you will enjoy Madame Pommery.
CHAMPAGNE WIDOWS, the First Woman of Champagne
Rebecca Rosenberg is an award-winning novelist, champagne geek, and lavender farmer. Rebecca first fell in love with methode champenoise in Sonoma Valley, California. Over decades of delicious research, she has explored the wine cellars of France, Spain, Italy, and California in search of fine champagne. When Rebecca discovered the real-life stories of the Champagne Widows of France, she knew she’d dedicate years to telling the stories of these remarkable women who made champagne the worldwide phenomenon it is today.