Karen Memory

Karen Memory by Bear, Elizabeth. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780765375247.

"You aint gonna like what I have to tell you, but Im gonna tell you anyway. See, my name is Karen Memery, like memory only spelt with an e, and Im one of the girls what works in the Hôtel Mon Cherie on Amity Street. Hôtel has a little hat over the o like that. Its French, so Beatrice tells me." Set in the late 19th century―when the city we now call Seattle Underground was the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes, would-be gold miners were heading to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront, Karen is a young woman on her own, is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnables high-quality bordello. Through Karens eyes we get to know the other girls in the house―a resourceful group―and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, beggin sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, and who has a machine that can take over anyones mind and control their actions. And as if that wasnt bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap―a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered. Bear brings alive this Jack-the-Ripper yarn of the old west with a light touch in Karens own memorable voice, and a mesmerizing evocation of classic steam-powered science.