Member Review

Even though the word “courtesan” is in the title, the majority of this book isn’t about being a courtesan—it is more about the courtesan’s childhood and how she came to her profession. This was a tough childhood for sure, and tough circumstances that led her to be who she ended up being. The book should come with content warnings for childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence at the very least—some parts were difficult for me to read.

But I really appreciate the glimpse into the life of someone of Celeste’s station in that time and place. The book was definitely illuminating in this regard; the characters were painted quite illustratively, enough for me to sympathize with Celeste throughout and despise, rage at, and love those that she despised, raged at, and loved. The plot line about her mother was particularly evocative; I was most heartbroken by her turn from love to neglect.

In the end, I felt like this wasn’t as generous a portrayal of sex work as others I have read, in that in the end, Celeste seemed to view herself as somewhat of a sinner and blamed herself for it. I’ve seen other more progressive/compassionate/empowering recasting of sex work, but this doesn’t feel like one of them; it feels more traditional, which is fine. I appreciate that this being a memoir, Celeste probably was just struggling with the stigma around sex work at that time, a struggle that was palpable in the words of the book, and that was quite moving to me.

I haven’t read the other translations or the original French edition, so I can’t comment much on the quality of the translation. But I can say the prose was beautiful in some parts, and definitely readable throughout—it was a tight, quick read for me. Some French phrases were preserved, which helped retain a feel of the original setting. The style felt appropriately archaic most of the time.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.