THE LIFE

Hardback. First pub. in French under the title 'La derobade', 1976. Tr. from the French by Harry Matthews. There is no such thing as a happy or a free prostitute, and the author gives us the truth. At the age of 16 she was living in a slum in the Paris suburbs, working in a factory and about to be married. Her mother was an alcoholic and her father violated her. Temptation and the prospect of the good life were unexpectedly put in her way in the guise of a flashy, chrome-covered car parked next to her father's rusting bicycle. She tracked down its owner, Gerard, who was as glittery as his car. Following the first of 9 abortions she started earning a living for Gerard, the pimp. After 5yrs of prostitution, a life of brothels an street-walking, of greedy policemen and callous madams, Jeanne Cordelier bravely decided to leave, to make the gigantic leap of the "the life". This extraordinarily vivid book reads like a novel. But it is not a book for the voyeur - it is all too agonisingly real. Jeanne Cordelier writes candidly of all the grim aspects of a life of prostitution. But despite the misery and humiliation, she never lost her sense of humour, her perceptiveness, her courage. A fascinating account of the oldest profession. 368pp. 8vo. h/back. V. lightly foxed edges, v.v. sl. slanted sp. o/w Vg. in Vg. dw.