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A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies

by Ellen Cooney

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2309116,118 (2.73)6
After a convalescence Charlotte Heath, leaves her husband's family mansion to find him kissing another woman. Shocked she leaves for the city and goes to her friend, former cook for the family, who works at the Beechmont. She discovers that the Beechmont is a male brothel where she masters her illness, becomes comfortable with her desires, and learns to deal with her patronizing husband.… (more)
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English (8)  Italian (1)  All languages (9)
Showing 1-5 of 8 (next | show all)
Misled by blurbs -- who me? Surely I am too savvy for that! Ha. The worst part about reading a book that doesn't match what the cover led me to expect (whether the expectation arose from the publisher's copy or from authorial and editorial praises) is that I'm never entirely sure whether I am disappointed by the book on its own merits or for failing to live up to the idea of the book that I'd thought I'd be reading.

I can say with certainty that this is a much more passive book than I expected or would have chosen. And I call it passive despite a heroine who runs away from an unsatisfactory marriage at the very beginning of the book and a plot line that is all about Charlotte finding or at least taking charge of her self. Unfortunately, her every action is so swathed with thoughts and memories about events from the past that an act as simple as crossing a room to look out a window takes several pages. While I do enjoy knowing what motivates a character, in this book the interior world crowded out the exterior far too much for my taste, leaving the false impression that Charlotte doesn't do much except think (even as she's out going and doing and investigating).

I'm also not entirely sure what to make of the ending, but I suspect that's the point. ( )
  akaGingerK | Sep 30, 2018 |
This has been on my to-read list for years, so long I don't remember what about the recommendation caught my attention. Whatever it was I didn't see it in the book. Yes, it was good, incredibly well-written, interesting/bordering on crazy characters. But...again I can all but taste the MFA in Creative Writing wafting off this. What is it about Adult Literary fiction that treats life in such a detached and distant way? And makes endings as non-committal as possible. Bottom line, good but not illuminating. ( )
  akmargie | Apr 4, 2013 |
Ellen Cooney is a local author--her books are set in Boston or Eastern Massachusetts. I love place as a character, and selfishly, I love reading about Boston. Cooney's A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies is set in the early 20th century, and details the goings-on of a Beacon Hill brothel (for women!).

Red-headed Charlotte married into a rich New England family and succumbed to a mysterious malaise that kept her bedridden for years. Stepping out one winter day, she catches her husband passionately embracing another woman, and without a word, she rides off to Boston. She is saved only by a series of potential improbably coincidences--at every turn, she runs into someone who knows her, owes her, or wants her. She ends up at The Beechmont: A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies and discovers her true self.

At moments wildly fun, others very predictable. I was underwhelmed by the ending. ( )
  unabridgedchick | Mar 31, 2009 |
An incredibly boring book. Promised a lot and delivered nothing. I was all for expecting some kind of thrilling, silly, Victorian love affair. Instead I got a pointless and mind numbingly boring account of a bland woman's stay in the most sleepy and unrealistic bordello ever. This book was a complete waste of time. ( )
  ohdeer | Nov 10, 2008 |
Unfortunately, I was thoroughly disappointed by the novel as a whole. I did enjoy the author’s writing style, particularly her descriptions of the city in winter and her ability to extend the frozen theme into the lives of the characters. Everything else about the book was tepid and unexciting. *Warning: Spoilers* Charlotte’s personal development was not as extensive as I’d hoped and mainly consisted of her trying to recapture the spunk of her youth. Her sexual awakening, which was much touted in the reviews I read, was definitely overrated. Instead of being sexually liberated, she ended up simply falling in love with a younger man (with a fictional tragic childhood) and looking a bit foolish in the end. When confronted with her future with her husband, she decided to return to him in a move that seemed somehow too facile. It was almost as if she felt she had leveled the playing field by having an affair of her own. I didn’t feel as though she had a plan for making their future life together substantially different than their past. Ultimately, this novel was based on excellent premise that just lost steam about a third of the way through.
  swelldame | May 14, 2007 |
Showing 1-5 of 8 (next | show all)
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For Phillipa Brewster
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Charlotte Heath was in such a hurry to get to her husband, it took her awhile to notice the absence of her bells.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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After a convalescence Charlotte Heath, leaves her husband's family mansion to find him kissing another woman. Shocked she leaves for the city and goes to her friend, former cook for the family, who works at the Beechmont. She discovers that the Beechmont is a male brothel where she masters her illness, becomes comfortable with her desires, and learns to deal with her patronizing husband.

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A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies is an irresistible tale of a woman's search for self- a journey that takes her to the most surprising places. The book takes place in February 1900 in a small Massachusetts town blanketed with snow. Red-haired Charlotte is married to an heir of the powerful Heath family. Upon spying her husband embracing another woman, she flees both him and the luxurious, stifling life of the Heath household for "The Beechmont: A Private Hotel for Gentle Laidies," a unique Boston establishment whose handsome porters make discreet, late-night visits to its female clientele. Charlotte is quickly swept up in a sexual awakening that in turn leads her on a journey to understand her own marriage and ultimately to discover where, if anywhere, she truly belongs.
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