Lucky Red
A Novel
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A thrilling, raucous, and gloriously queer debut about a scrappy orphan bent on making her own luck in the American West—and finding friendship, romance, and her true calling along the way, now in paperback.
“A powerful feminist battle cry . . . [and] rollicking good fun.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
LONGLISTED FOR THE VCU CABELL AWARD • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Autostraddle, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal
The heart wants what it wants. Saddle up, ride out, and claim it.
When Bridget arrives penniless in Dodge City, already disillusioned by feckless men and the uncompromising landscape, she has only her wits to keep her alive. Thanks to the allure of her bright red hair and country-girl beauty, she’s recruited to work at the Buffalo Queen, the only brothel in town run by women. Bridget takes to brothel life, appreciating the good food, good pay, and good friendships she forms with her fellow “sporting women.”
But with the arrival of some infamous outlaws at the start of winter, tensions in Dodge City run high. When the Buffalo Queen’s peace and security are threatened, Bridget must decide what she owes to the women she loves and what it looks like to claim her own destiny.
A thoroughly modern reimagining of the Western genre, Lucky Red is a masterfully crafted, propulsive tale of adventure, loyalty, desire, and love.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Claudia Cravens’ exhilarating debut opens in 1877, when orphaned teenager Bridget finds herself at the mercy of the only female-run brothel in Dodge City, Kansas. Compared to the wilderness of the open prairie, sex work strikes Bridget as tame––that is, until our tough, flame-haired heroine falls in love with sapphic gunslinger Spartan Lee, jeopardizing the brothel’s truce with local lawmen. Amid the bighearted madams and double-crossing bandits, Cravens pays homage to our mythical notions of the frontier spirit and the conventions of the Western while craftily subverting them. Lucky Red is an original and thrilling story of seduction and solidarity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cravens debuts with an exceptional historical tale of sex work and queer desire on the American frontier. Bridget Shaughnessy, 16, lands alone in Dodge City, Kans., in 1877. She's recently orphaned, her alcoholic and shiftless father having died from a rattlesnake bite on their way from Arkansas. Her innocent look and flaming red hair catch the attention of Lila and Kate, madams of a refined brothel called the Buffalo Queen. With no other prospects, Bridget becomes a "sporting woman" and befriends bookish and sarcastic colleague Constance. The return of Sallie, a self-assured former employee of Lila's, sparks confusing desires in Bridget, but after Bridget impulsively intervenes to protect Sallie from a violent customer, Sallie is forced out. Heartbroken, Bridget numbly continues her work and strings along Jim Bonnie, a sheriff's deputy who keeps the Buffalo Queen safe from moralizers and rougher patrons. After Bridget meets Spartan Lee, a gender-bending outlaw chaser, she discovers a new romance, one strong enough for her to rebuff Jim's marriage proposal. Spartan, meanwhile, is working a con that sweeps up Bridget and the rest of the house. Cravens peppers the thrilling plot with delicious language (Bridget's clients are "a series of hats and mustaches"; Jim's marriage offer feels "wedged in chest, like a piece of furniture that can't be got through a doorway"), and her sensitive portrayal of Bridget's uncertainty over her sexuality resonates. This is a knockout.
