The Redemption of Mattie Silks
A tale of rowdy Denver in the 1890s, this novel is rooted in historical figures and events. The notorious madam Mattie Silks runs her parlor house as a successful business. She treats her girls—also called painted ladies and many more appellations—with respect and kindness. Determined to control Mattie as he does the Denver underworld and shady politicians, Jefferson “Soapy” Smith is a dangerous adversary. Mattie’s love for her younger, gambling husband Cortez Thompson could be seen as her weakness, but he can be helpful in a time when women couldn’t own property or sign legal documents. Most of the novel focuses on Mattie in Denver: details of the prostitution business on Market Street, Soapy’s violence, and the characters and conflicts surrounding Mattie between 1892 and 1896. Then gold is discovered in the Yukon, and the drama intensifies. When Mattie and her girls head north, they discover Soapy Smith, driven out of Denver, has surfaced in Skagway, where he runs the town as he did Denver. He becomes a worse threat than ever to Mattie.
Kimberly Burns effectively creates Denver’s lawless atmosphere and Mattie Silks’ drive and wit. As a woman making her way in the man’s world of the Wild West, she’s an engaging protagonist. However, at times the research shows through heavily, for example: minute details about prostitutes and the prostitution business, not all directly related to Mattie and her girls. At times the book bogs down in these details and the episodic nature of the plot. After the discovery of gold in Alaska, the pace and drama pick up. Readers drawn to the history of this era will enjoy Burns’s descriptions and Mattie’s “redemption.”
