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The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld
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The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld Paperback - 2001

by Christine Wiltz

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For the first time in paperback, Wiltz chronicles the life and times of Normal Wallace, who went from New Orleans streetwalker to madam in 1920. At her legendary house of prostitution, she entertained a steady stream of governors, gangsters, and movie stars until she was arrested at last in 1962. "Wonderful . . . recreates a little slice of a life otherwise devoured by time".--"New York Times Book Review". 18 photos.

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From the publisher

The incredible life of French Quarter legend Norma Wallace -- and a portrait of an era in New Orleans history rife with charm and decadence ("Wonderful. . . admirably recreates a slice of a life otherwise devoured by time" -- Michael Lewis, New York Times Book Review)

In 1916, at age fifteen, Norma Wallace arrived in New Orleans. Sexy and shrewd, she quickly went from streetwalker to madam and by 1920 had opened what became a legendary house of prostitution. There she entertained a steady stream of governors, gangsters, and movie stars until she was arrested at last in 1962. Shortly before she died in 1974, she tape-recorded her memories-the scandalous stories of a powerful woman who had the city's politicians in her pocket and whose lovers included the twenty-five-year-old boy next door, whom she married when she was sixty-four. Combining those tapes with original research, Christine Wiltz chronicles not just Norma's rise and fall but also the social history of New Orleans, thick with the vice and corruption that flourished there-and, like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Philistines at the Hedgerow, resurrects a vanished secret world.

First line

Norma Wallace stood on a bed of pine needles deep in the Mississippi woods.

Details

  • Title The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld
  • Author Christine Wiltz
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 264
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Grand Central Publishing, New York, New York, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 2001-03-13
  • Features Bibliography
  • ISBN 9780306810121 / 0306810123
  • Weight 0.69 lbs (0.31 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.99 x 5.87 x 0.73 in (22.83 x 14.91 x 1.85 cm)
  • Age range 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
    • Cultural Region: Deep South
    • Cultural Region: Gulf Coast
    • Cultural Region: South
    • Demographic Orientation: Urban
    • Geographic Orientation: Louisiana
    • Sex & Gender: Feminine
    • Topical:
    • Topical: Women's Interest
  • Category History - U.S.
  • Library of Congress subjects Prostitution - Louisiana - New Orleans -, Wallace, Norma
  • Dewey Decimal Code 306.7

About the author

Christine Wiltz, a native of New Orleans, is the author of five novels, including The Killing Circle, A Diamond Before You Die, and The Emerald Lizard, all set in New Orleans and featuring Irish Channel detective Neal Rafferty. Wiltz's novel The Glass House was praised by the New York Times as "unflinchingly honest" and a book that "needs to be read on both sides of Convent Street." She has written for the New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times, and numerous other publications. She's been a writer in residence and adjunct professor at both Tulane and Loyola Universities. Wiltz lives in New Orleans.
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The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld
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The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld

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