Lesbian encounter that mentions but avoids describing 'kisses andĬaresses.' (2013, 338 pages, including a Bibliography) More about Parlor Games at Powell's Books or Tamed them.' That's about as explicit as any of the sex gets in Parlor Games, except for a playful Puppies: Roll them on their back and convince them you're master and you've 'And after all,' she says in regard to her stay in the Chicagoīordello, 'men are not terribly difficult to manage. With few qualms short of out-and-out murder will enjoy May's tart narration. In the gorgeous gowns and opulent surroundings of a wily, self-indulgent woman Readers who get a vicarious thrill from imagining themselves Heartache she claims when the affairs end badly. Of a government official in Mexico, readers are unlikely to feel touched by the So unreliable a narrator is she that when sheĭescribes falling in love with a business traveler in Japan and, later, the son Trial to her career, is on May's insouciant, cold and clever manipulation ofĪlmost everyone she encounters. The focus, moving back and forth from the It then backtracks to May's youthful goal of moving toĬhicago and finding a wealthy husband. Narrated by May, the novel opens with her 1917 trial forĮxtortion in Menominee. Too eager to propose - a venture that first puts Pinkerton detective Reedĭougherty on her trail. To a Chicago bordello, to society circles where she meets a banker's son all

May gallivants from her boring little hometown, Menominee, Michigan, Which Biaggio notes is 'not always accurate,' it's an eyebrow-raising novel. In the historical record - other than some New York Times articles about lawsuitsįiled against her, including 'Black Pearl Case Settled' in 1912 and 'BaronessĪccused of $125,000 Swindle' in 1917. About real-life swindler and seductress May Dugas, who left relatively few traces

Parlor Games by Maryka Biaggio