michel faber the crimson petal and white

I took a break one-third of the way into the book, and I was worried I may not get back to it, because this happens to me all the time, I take a break from a chunkster, and that is the end of it, and it ends up being half read.

But, as often happens with big books, after the initial aura fades, the reader has to do the hardwork, the grunt work, read one sentence after another, keep the pages turning. Michel Faber’s prose was beautiful, there were many beautiful sentences, the first chapters were amazingly narrated (more on that soon). It was exciting to start reading and before I knew I was a hundred pages in. ‘ The Crimson Petal and the White‘ is a 900-page chunkster, the longest book I’ve read this year, the longest book I’ve read in a while. One things leads to another after that and Sugar’s life is transformed beyond recognition – I won’t tell you more, you have to read the book and find out what happened, yourself. He rents out a spacious house in a nice locality and Sugar goes to live there as this rich man’s mistress.

He is so enamoured by her that he signs a contract with the woman running the house to release her for a big sum of money.

Sugar is a nineteen year old prostitute who lives in 1870s London. It has been on my bookshelf for years and I am glad I finally took it down and read it. I was in the mood for a thick, sprawling novel into which I’ll be able to immerse myself and so I decided to read ‘ The Crimson Petal and the White‘ by Michel Faber.

Michel faber the crimson petal and white