Overview

Madam Emmeline MacKinsey isn't an old tart. Sure, she runs the most lucrative cathouse in the East End, but she's never spread her legs for money. In fact, the life she led before embarking upon her relatively new vocation as a procuress is a topic that remains largely out of bounds -- much to the consternation of her young lover, Carmen. Indeed, the more Carmen wants to know, the more evasive Emmeline becomes, and it's not until the unheralded arrival of a past acquaintance threatens to rupture the thin divide between her old life and the one she's taken such great care to build for herself that the secretive bawd is finally forced to confront the ramifications of her duplicity. Even if that means losing Carmen. Even if it means facing the rope.