A Private Hotel For Gentle Ladies

It is 1900 in a small, prosperous Massachusetts town. Charlotte Heath is married to Hays, the scion of the powerful Heath family. When she spies him bending to kiss another woman in the village square, impulsive Charlotte heads her horses straight out of town. Unsure where to go but certain that she wants to leaves, Charlotte makes her way to Boston and checks in at "The Beechmont: A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies," where she find that the classy Beechmont is a rather unique institution, where handsome porters make discreet, late-night visits to its all-female clientele. Charlotte finds herself surrounded by a cast of characters that will delight the listener as she settle into life at this reverse brothel: Harry Alcorn, the hotel's dashing and prescient proprietor; Miss Berenice Singleton, the bohemian painter who holds a kind of salon in her rooms; the charming and handsome "porter" Arthur, who both gives pleasure and makes trouble; and the venerable lady doctor Lily Heath, her husband's aunt, whom Charlotte is amazed to find among the hotel's regulars.

Ellen Cooney has given us a remarkable portrait of a historical moment and an irresistible protagonist. Fresh, high-spirited, and wonderfully seductive in the telling, A PRIVATE HOTEL FOR GENTLE LADIES carries the listener along on a woman's unforgettable journey to self-enlightenment.