An Almond for a Parrot

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.

Narrator Rachel Atkins brings eighteenth-century London to life--all the squalor and beauty of the teeming metropolis are present in her narration of this bawdy, picaresque homage to Moll Flanders. Tully Truegood is in prison, accused of murder. To pass the time, she writes her memoir of how she became a courtesan. But Tully's story is more complex than the trope of the fallen woman, and Atkins's characterization reflects that. Her portrayal of Tully starts off young, ignorant, and na�ve, and ages into a woman who is worldly, elegant, and far older than her years, due to the circumstances of her life. This is a rich and rewarding novel, but it's also full of sex and violence, so it won't be to every listener's taste. K.M.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine