Somewhere between a paperboys first cup of chicory coffee and the memories of the Madam who inspired Belle Watling of Gone With the Wind fame, there lies a story of sex, secrets and spiritual redemption. Interweaving portals to the past with the magic of a Spirit Guide called back to his lovers deathbed, Belle Brezing is a haunting love story about a loyal paperboy on a high-stakes mission: To guide his former lover to remember the secret that forged her rise to fame but closed her heart to love. Belle Brezing, the novel, takes a look at the woman who died in virtual isolation in 1940, decades after her business was closed by the Army in 1917. Brezing was a nationally known southern Madam whose obituary appeared on the front of the NY Times as well as Time Magazine. (1863-1940) Belle Brezing was a charismatic woman who brought herself out of poverty and an emotionally and physically painful early childhood. Shedding light on the connections of a wounded past and a life lived in quiet desperation, the award-winning novel Belle Brezing exposes the scandals and secrets of this dynamic woman whose life parallels timely issues in the arena of prostitution and sex trafficking.

Belle Brezing made a major career move when she stepped off the streets of Lexington, Kentucky, and into Jennie Hill's bawdy house -- an upscale brothel run out of a former residence of Mary Todd Lincoln. At nineteen, Brezing was already infamous as a youth steeped in death, sex, drugs, and scandal. But it was in Miss Hill's "respectable" establishment that she began to acquire the skills, manners, and business contacts that allowed her to ascend to power and influence as an internationally known madam. In this revealing book, Maryjean Wall offers a tantalizing true story of vice and power in the Gilded Age South, as told through the life and times of the notorious Miss Belle. After years on the streets and working for Hill, Belle Brezing borrowed enough money to set up her own establishment -- her wealth and fame growing alongside the booming popularity of horse racing. Soon, her houses were known internationally, and powerful patrons from the industrial cities of the Northeast courted her in the lavish parlors of her gilt-and-mirror mansion. Secrecy was a moral code in the sequestered demimonde of prostitution in Victorian America, so little has been written about the Southern madam credited with inspiring the character Belle Watling in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. Following Brezing from her birth amid the ruins of the Civil War to the height of her scarlet fame and beyond, Wall uses her story to explore a wider world of sex, business, politics, and power. The result is a scintillating tale that is as enthralling as any fiction.

The “captivating” true story of the notorious Gilded Age madam who inspired the Belle Watling character in Gone with the Wind (The Wall Street Journal). Belle Brezing made a major career move when she stepped off the streets of Lexington, Kentucky, and into Jennie Hill’s bawdy house—an upscale brothel run out of a former residence of Mary Todd Lincoln. At nineteen, Brezing was already infamous as a youth steeped in death, sex, drugs, and scandal. But it was in Miss Hill’s “respectable” establishment that she began to acquire the skills, manners, and business contacts that allowed her to ascend to power and influence as an internationally known madam. In this revealing book, Maryjean Wall offers a tantalizing true story of vice and power in the Gilded Age South, as told through the life and times of the notorious Miss Belle. After years on the streets and working for Hill, Belle Brezing borrowed enough money to set up her own establishment—her wealth and fame growing alongside the booming popularity of horse racing. Soon, her houses were known internationally, and powerful patrons from the industrial cities of the Northeast courted her in the lavish parlors of her gilt-and-mirror mansion. Secrecy was a moral code in the sequestered demimonde of prostitution in Victorian America, so little has been written about the Southern madam credited with inspiring the character Belle Watling in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. Following Brezing from her birth amid the ruins of the Civil War to the height of her scarlet fame and beyond, Wall uses her story to explore a wider world of sex, business, politics, and power. The result is a scintillating tale as enthralling as any fiction.

The story of the famous madam who was the inspiration for the character Belle Watling in Gone With The Wind.

A guide to the odd and interesting history, places, and people in Kentucky.

Why has music so often served as an accomplice to transcendent expressions of gender? Why did the query "is he musical?" become code, in the twentieth century, for "is he gay?" Why is music so inherently queer? For Sasha Geffen, the answers lie, in part, in music’s intrinsic quality of subliminal expression, which, through paradox and contradiction, allows rigid gender roles to fall away in a sensual and ambiguous exchange between performer and listener. Glitter Up the Dark traces the history of this gender fluidity in pop music from the early twentieth century to the present day. Starting with early blues and the Beatles and continuing with performers such as David Bowie, Prince, Missy Elliot, and Frank Ocean, Geffen explores how artists have used music, fashion, language, and technology to break out of the confines mandated by gender essentialism and establish the voice as the primary expression of gender transgression. From glam rock and punk to disco, techno, and hip-hop, music helped set the stage for today’s conversations about trans rights and recognition of nonbinary and third-gender identities. Glitter Up the Dark takes a long look back at the path that led here.

A Caldecott Honor winner! Micha Archer's gorgeous, detailed collages give readers a fresh outlook on the splendors of nature. When two curious kids embark on a "wonder walk," they let their imaginations soar as they look at the world in a whole new light. They have thought-provoking questions for everything they see: Is the sun the world's light bulb? Is dirt the world's skin? Are rivers the earth's veins? Is the wind the world breathing? I wonder . . . Young readers will wonder too, as they ponder these gorgeous pages and make all kinds of new connections. What a wonderful world indeed!

Most people may think of ranchers and cowboys as men. But although they are under-chronicled, ranch women work from dark to dark, keeping step with hired hands, brothers, fathers and husbands. They blaze trails through unforgiving scrub. They cook supper and feed bulls. At any given time, they wear the hats--and the gloves--of geologist, veterinarian, lawyer and mechanic. They are fierce and feminine and powerful. Photojournalist and writer Alyssa Banta spent over a year following more than a dozen Texas women through their grueling daily routines, from the messy confines of the working chute to the sprawling reaches of the back pasture. The result of this unprecedented access is an intimate portrait of the challenges and achievements of the ranch women of the Lone Star State, along with the land and livestock that sustain them.

Murder Under A Full Moon Book 7 Mona Moon goes to Washington D.C. to have lunch at the White House with Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States. While in Washington, Mona wants to take in the sights but her visit is marred by the violent death of two men who were trying to procure copper contracts with Moon Enterprises. Mona is then approached by American agents to spy for the government. Mona wants no part of that as “gentlewomen do not read other’s mail.” Mona soon realizes that she and Moon Enterprises are thrust upon the world stage of countries vying for power whether she likes it or not. All Mona wants to do is run Moon Enterprises and marry Lord Farley, but events make that impossible. Mona must make a choice. Does she fulfill her duty to her country and forget Lord Farley? Or does she forge ahead and place her country in jeopardy by selling copper to whoever wants it? It looks like 1934 is going to be a challenging year for Mona. Murder Under A New Moon Book 8 Robert Farley is now a bonafide duke, and solicitors from the Duchy of Brynelleth have come to negotiate his marriage contract to Mona Moon. When the three solicitors demand that Mona relinquish Moon Enterprises and live in England full time, she threatens to give Robert back his engagement ring and call off the wedding. She says quite frankly, “I’m not going to give up one of the largest mining conglomerates in the world just so I can host dinner parties at Brynelleth for your snotty friends.” Robert, caught between the responsibilities demanded by Brynelleth and his deep love for Mona, is furious with his solicitors for not being more diplomatic. However, the matter resolves itself when the three English solicitors are caught visiting the notorious bawdy house of Belle Brezing, the most famous madam in the South. Ooops! Events are made worse when one of them turns up dead in the bed of a lady-of-the-evening. Now Mona and Robert must find the culprit before their reputations are torn to shreds by their enemies. Fast-moving events threaten to turn Mona’s world upside-down as she is confronted with seemingly impossible decisions to make. Should she marry Robert Farley or not? Murder Under a British Moon Book 9 Mona Moon travels to Merry Old England to meet Robert’s family and see Brynelleth for the first time. Hoping to make a good impression, Mona finds that she is rebuffed at every turn by Robert’s friends and even his servants. Despondent, Mona wants to return to the United States, but her trip is delayed when one of Brynelleth’s farmhands is discovered murdered. She can’t leave Robert in such a lurch and begs her good friend, Lady Alice Nithercott, to help her find the culprit. Mona discovers she and Lady Alice poke the wrong person and now he is out for blood—Mona’s blood!

2022 Finalist for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical Category! Robert Farley is now a bonafide duke, and solicitors from the Duchy of Brynelleth have come to negotiate his marriage contract to Mona Moon. When the three solicitors demand that Mona relinquish Moon Enterprises and live in England full time, she threatens to give Robert back his engagement ring and call off the wedding. She says quite frankly, “I’m not going to give up one of the largest mining conglomerates in the world just so I can host dinner parties at Brynelleth for your snotty friends.” Robert, caught between the responsibilities demanded by Brynelleth and his deep love for Mona, is furious with his solicitors for not being more diplomatic. However, the matter resolves itself when the three English solicitors are caught visiting the notorious bawdy house of Belle Brezing, the most famous madam in the South. Ooops! Events are made worse when one of them turns up dead in the bed of a lady-of-the-evening. Now Mona and Robert must find the culprit before their reputations are torn to shreds by their enemies. Fast-moving events threaten to turn Mona’s world upside-down as she is confronted with seemingly impossible decisions to make. Should she marry Robert Farley or not? If you like mysteries by Sara Rosett, Agatha Christie, Lee Strauss, Dorothy L. Sayers, Jacqueline Winspear, Rhys Bowen, and Patricia Wentworth, you will enjoy the 1930s Mona Moon Mysteries by Abigail Keam. Murder Under A Blue Moon Murder Under A Blood Moon Murder Under A Bad Moon Murder Under A Silver Moon Murder Under A Wolf Moon Murder Under A Black Moon Murder Under A Full Moon Murder Under A New Moon Murder Under A British Moon Murder Under A Bridal Moon Murder Under A Western Moon Murder Under A Honey Moon cozy mystery, murder mystery, mystery, historical mystery, female sleuth, women's action and adventure, abigail keam, rags to riches, historical romance, 20th romance, 1930s, Great Depression, Mystery Thriller and Suspense, new adult, award-winning, traditional mystery, amateur sleuth, Southern mystery, clean mystery, Mona Moon Mystery, Mona Moon Mysteries, female protagonist, clean books for women, clean books for girls, historical fiction, friendship fiction, five star reviews, five star, rich, wealth, single women, readers choice, blue moon, mona moon, new deal, Roosevelt, eleanor roosevelt, small town mysteries