In England, in the 1830s, at the time of a major cholera epidemic, a young girl, the orphaned daughter of a prostitute, finds that working in a pottery factory does not earn her enough money for herself and her child. She must work at night like her mother, as a prostitute. Having virtually no money, she rents her dress, and is followed while she walks the streets so that she will not run off with her outfit. She is called a dress lodger. Shari Holman, a native of rural Virginia, and later a resident of Brooklyn, New York, has researched the lives of girls who were dress lodgers in England in the 1830s. She is the author of a book of historical fiction about Gustine, a 15-year-old dress lodger who lived and worked in Sunderland, England in 1831, entitled âThe Dress Lodger.â
Shari Holman recommends âThe Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,â by Anne Fadiman.
Originally Broadcast: February 6, 2001
Barry Vogel, Esq. is the host and producer. Ignacio Ayala is the assistant producer.
As Radio Curious begins the 30th year of weekly broadcast, we're proud to be a part of the Library of Congress Audio Division. Our interviews cover a curiously wide variety of topics about life and ideas. Currently all of our half-hour, long-form interviews are from the Radio Curious archives. The website is www.radiocurious.org.
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Thank you for listening. Barry Vogel, Host and Producer
"Shari Holman â Not Even the Clothes on Her Back"
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