Book review: The Mistress Of Paris

IN 1848, the Year of Revolutions, little Emilie-Louise Delabigne began her life in the worst slum in Paris, the illegitimate daughter of a laundress-turned-prostitute.

Growing up on the streets whilst her mother entertained her clients, she learned her own trade early whilst working first as a poorly paid shop assistant and then as a bar girl in one of the racy new brasserie de femmes that catered to the male taste for pretty young women.

In 1878, a promising young writer named Emile Zola was researching the background to a novel which he wished to set in the Parisian demi-monde.