This was a good book...it was easy to read...I think it took me one night to finish the whole thing. The characters were realistic and the story was believeable.
When Esther coerced her teenage daughter, Arnell, into sleeping with the landlord to keep a roof over their heads after her husband's death, her life as a madame began. As business prospered, Esther purchased the 16-room mansion her mother worked in as a housekeeper. The men call the residence the Honey Well, and rooms are rented to tenants affectionately referred to as ladies of charm. Esther promised Arnell that once she completed college she could stop performing favors. Yet she continues to make demands, and Arnell can never seem to say no to her requests. When Arnell becomes engaged to the son of a prominent minister, her struggle to break free of her mother becomes even more intense. Esther uses their secrets to blackmail her daughter into staying in the business.
