THE WILDE WOMEN by Paula Wall
While I had not read anything by Paula Wall prior, she authored The Rock Orchard to favorable reviews, I am a self-admitted fan of Southern Literature, and so thought it right up my alley. I chalk it up to being from the same town as Flannery O’Conner – Savannah in the house. But whatever the reason, THE WILDE WOMEN, wears the label well and appropriately.
Wall’s second novel, THE WILDE WOMEN, starts off with a typically Southern scenario. Pearl Wilde catches her fiance with her sister and promptly leaves town. When she returns a few years later to her depression-soaked hometown of Five Points, she brings with her a business venture unlike any other and thus a truly entertaining read.
Opening the Five of Clubs, a members-only brothel, just on the edge of town, Pearl not only employs some of the town’s typically southern-lit characters but also finds them as clients as well and lets the gossip traditional of small towns do her promotion for her. The more the town talks, the more interesting swanky enterprise becomes and the more expanded the story lines of each character.
Reading seamlessly like a collection of short stories, THE WILDE WOMEN, oozes like molasses through the sweaty sex, illicit affairs, drinking, money or lack thereof, work troubles and drama they only have in the south. We learn about the long-ago incident that turned the Wilde sisters into who they have become, the town’s token widow, the good ol’ boys network, the outcast single mom and her Hollywood-handsome son, the unfaithful fiance, his family and their covert business of outlawed alcohol production.
Having read THE WILDE WOMEN, I’m ordering The Rock Orchard from my library’s home delivery service. When it gets here, I’m pouring a glass of sweet tea and cracking it open with high hopes for a good read.