Trades of the flesh
(Book)

"A Tom Doherty Associates book"--T.p. verso.

Originally published: United Kingdom : Macmillan New Writing, 2009.

Some would call Lydia Ketch's life immoral and shameful. After her mother's death and with the obscene conditions of the workhouse looming before her, Lydia chooses to enter into "the trade" in a brothel to shield herself and her sweet young sister from life's ravages. Her education at the hands of the men who use her gives Lydia some very unusual skills and an income an ordinary woman could never match. When Lydia meets Henry Shadwell, a young surgeon with a passionate interest in biology, and the shadowy world Lydia lives in, the chemistry between the two is instant. Henry desires Lydia's body, but their relationship deepens when he discovers that Lydia possesses a nimble intellect. He soon enlists Lydia's help in his underground sidelines; first as a model for pornographic photography, then as an assistant in procuring corpses for medical experimentation. With the dangers of her own line of work becoming clearer by the day, and with her newfound delight in her own sexuality burgeoning, Lydia becomes disillusioned with her life as a prostitute.--From back cover.