Emma Donoghue's powerful 2000 novel “Slammerkin” shows how delicately balanced a life can be — balanced between happiness and despair, success and failure, good and evil, a feeling of belonging and a feeling of abandonment.
The title of the novel, set in mid-18th century England, is an old word with two meanings: a loose gown or a loose woman. Both meanings become important to Donoghue's plot.

Mary is bright 14-year-old girl in London who, unlike so many girls, is getting an education. She gets pregnant after being raped, however, and is thrown out of the house by her mother. To survive, she turns to prostitution, then has an abortion. She quickly becomes settled into her new life, tutored by a new friend named Doll, who is just a few years older. Soon enough, we are told, she "couldn't remember what innocence looked like."

Due to a series of circumstances that put her life in danger, Mary flees to Monmouth, getting a job as a maid with Mrs. Jones, her mother's childhood friend. She tells the woman her mother is dead. Mrs. Jones makes gowns for upperclass women, and Mary turns out to be a talented seamstress and a big help to the business run by Mrs. Jones and her husband.

Mary misses her old life on the streets of London, yet loves being loved and accepted by this family. They begin to feel like they could be her own family. "She could almost believe she was a virgin again," we are told. Yet still thinking about returning to London, she turns to occasional prostitution and accumulates a bag of coins. This money proves her undoing.

The novel is based loosely on real people and real events. Always fascinating, the story packs an emotional wallop. ( )

The more I read by Emma Donoghue, the more I want to read. I consumed this last, sorrowful tale in less than a day- wrapped up so entirely in this fact-based story of the unhappy life of Slammerkin Mary Saunders. Slammerkin: a loose dress, a loose woman- but who makes these? Seamstresses for the former, an evil world for the latter. Poor Mary doesn’t stand a chance, being born a poor woman to a poor woman.
Throughout her short life, she struggles, attempts to make progress, is continually thrust back.
The history woven through the book is fascinating- the bitter cold of the winters recall Helen Humphreys’ “Frozen Thames”- the treatment of former (but really current) slaves, the hypocrisy abounding as all try to survive in horrendous conditions.
Besides being a fascinating, involving story, it brings forward issues we still wrestle with today- prejudice, sexism, repressive religiosity, the loathing of the rich for the poor, and vice versa.
Heartbreaking, but well worth the immersion. Highly recommended.
Ps: some say they couldn’t relate to the main character because she seemed not to grow, or seemed unsympathetic. Ah, well. Many be those of you who think this haven’t experienced hardship. Or heartbreak. With enough hurt, you form a shell- one which Emma Donoghue describes so well. Mary is out into a life in which no choices were given, she is continually cut off from escape, her chances at joys continually snuffed out by the men who raped her, the women who judged her, the people who robbed her. I felt admiration for her ability to cope with her awful life, her inner honour when she stopped away from her one choice at the standard “happy” life, knowing she would be inflicting harm.
One has to wonder how any of us would have coped with such unrelenting hurt? ( )

Slammerkin is historical fiction set in 18th-century Britain. Mary is a young girl who gets pregnant from an assault. She is rejected by her family and falls into prostitution. After a series of misadventures, she deceives her mother's old friend into taking her in. Many people enjoyed this book however I was not one of them. The initial chapters were horrifically brutal. The sojourn in the middle is tediously bogged down. The ending devolves to the tone of the beginning. I wasn't in the mood to read something that would make me morbidly depressed so DNF and sent to a little free library. Good riddance. ( )

This book is an engaging story about a young prostitute set in mid 16th century London.

I loved the book initially as it paints the picture of a young woman, Mary, who gets sucked into prostitution who finds a way to survive by her wits and with the help of an older, more experienced prostitute. Mary is not a typical fictional character; she has more than her share of flaws - - not merely in her judgement, but also in her character, yet she is portrayed sympathetically.

Unfortunately, Mary ultimately leaves London and goes into "service" under false pretenses to a family in the countryside.

Here is where one might hope that Mary would rise above her early circumstances and go on to live a happy life. Needless to say, that's not what happens. Not by a long shot.

This book really had a lot of four star qualities in that it was well written and suspenseful, but even I, who really LIKE dark books, found it just didn't have enough hope or uplifting qualities to contrast against the unrelenting darkness. For me, dark books can make even the smallest bit of humanity shine brightly, and I read them for those moving moments. The contrast is what engages my mind and my emotion.

Slammerkin just didn't quite deliver on that promise and while I admired the author for not taking the easy route with her characters, I also ended up feeling that the book really didn't develop that elusive theme that elevates an ordinary read to the four and five star levels. ( )

Sad story, but a real page-turner. Very well done, I'm looking forward to reading more of Donoghue's work. ( )