Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

An Almond for a Parrot

A Novel

ebook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks

In eighteeth–century London, a young courtesan discovers her powers—of both magic and seduction—in this “irresistible erotic fairytale for adults" (Guardian, UK).

In prison, accused of murder, Tully Truegood begins to write her life story. A story that takes her from a young girl in the backstreets of 18th century London to her stepmother Queenie's Fairy House—a place where decadent excess is a must . . .

Trained by Queenie to become a courtesan, and by Mr. Crease—a magician who recognizes Tully unique powers—Tully soon becomes the talk of the town. But as Tully goes on a journey of sexual awakening, she falls in love with one of her clients and the pleasure soon turns to pain. Especially when the estranged husband she was forced to marry suddenly seeks her out. 

Now Tully is awaiting her trial for murder, for which she expects to hang—and her only chance of survival is to get her story to the one person who might be able to help her.

Wray Delaney's tale of a young woman's journey out of the depths of despair is “a bawdy, romping affair [that] mixes up genres—historical fiction, erotica, magic realism-to create something original” (The London Times, UK).
  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 13, 2017
      In this page-turning tale of one woman’s quest for happiness, Delaney takes readers to 18th-century London, opening with a framing scene in which Tully Truegood, a courtesan with magical powers, awaits trial for a murdering her husband. In the first person, Tully details her difficult upbringing with her dreadful father, who treats Tully as more of a servant than a daughter as she is forced to clean up after her father’s drunken friends. Mr. Truegood further proves his evil nature when he forces her to marry when she is only 12. As Tully grows older and her absent husband leaves her without money, she meets Mr. Crease, who recognizes her powers, and Queenie, who runs a brothel and grooms Tully to become her latest courtesan. Tully has the misfortune to fall in love with Avery Fitzjohn, who makes love to her and then leaves her to marry a French heiress in order to save his destitute family. When Tully finds a new protector in Lord Barbeau, she learns about her power as a woman and her fortitude to make her way in the world. Despite being charged with the murder of her husband, Tully continues to hope that she will avoid being hanged. Delaney’s novel is rich with historical detail, eroticism, and magic.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from February 15, 2017

      As the only child of a drunken, widowed brick merchant Tully Truegood is left to raise herself; her only human contact is the cook--small wonder that a solitary, imaginative child becomes fanciful. Even Tully's sudden marriage to a masked stranger at age 12 brings no companionship as her "husband" is immediately sent to sea and, as the cook prophesies, with any luck Tully will be a widow before she ever sees him again. This gray existence ends abruptly with her father's second marriage, bringing vivid life and love in the form of a colorful, ebullient stepmother and two intriguing stepsisters who vanish as quickly as they come, only to reappear in mysterious circumstances as owners of Georgian London's premier brothel. There Tully is trained as a courtesan; a magician recognizing her otherworldly gifts, turns her into the toast of London, pursued by a series of men who bring love, enlightenment, degradation, and confinement in Newgate Prison on charges of murder. VERDICT This richly imagined, bawdy, and beautifully written debut is Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders with a touch of magical realism, an intricately crafted mystery, romance, and adventure in one superb package.--Cynthia Johnson, formerly with Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA

      Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Loading