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My Notorious Life: A Novel
My Notorious Life: A Novel
My Notorious Life: A Novel
Audiobook20 hours

My Notorious Life: A Novel

Written by Kate Manning

Narrated by Terry Donnelly

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Inspired by a real midwife who became one of the most controversial figures in Victorian New York City, this “action-packed, thought-provoking page-turner” (The New York Times) is an unforgettable talea love story, a family saga, and the confessions of a charismatic and passionate woman who changed the lives of countless others.

Meet the incomparable Axie Muldoon. Axie’s story begins on the streets of 1860s New York. The impoverished child of Irish immigrants, she grows up to become one of the wealthiest and most controversial women of her day. In vivid prose, Axie recounts how she is forcibly separated from her mother and siblings, apprenticed to a doctor, and how she and her husband parlay the sale of a few bottles of “Lunar Tablets for Female Complaint” into a thriving midwifery business. Flouting convention and defying the law in the name of women’s rights, Axie rises from grim tenement rooms to the splendor of a mansion on Fifth Avenue, amassing wealth while learning over and over never to trust a man who says “trust me.”

When her services attract outraged headlines, Axie finds herself on a collision course with a crusading official—Anthony Comstock, founder of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. It will take all of Axie’s power to outwit him in the fight to preserve her freedom and everything she holds dear. Inspired by the true history of an infamous physician who was once called “the Wickedest Woman in New York,” Kate Manning is “writing in the venerable tradition of Stephen Crane…those social reformers knew that a powerful tale with memorable characters could draw us into the heat of social debates like nothing else” (The Washington Post).
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 10, 2013
ISBN9781442366428
Author

Kate Manning

A former documentary television producer (and winner of two Emmy Awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award), Kate Manning has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Glamour and More, among other publications. She is the author of Whitegirl, a novel, and is an adjunct faculty member of the English Department at Bard High School Early College. She lives with her family in New York City. www.bloomsbury.com/author/kate-manning/ @KateManning10

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Reviews for My Notorious Life

Rating: 4.080357088392857 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Oh my gosh this narrator. Awful. I couldn’t finish the book.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The narrator drove me crazy. Two stars is generous.
    I loved the first 16 chapters, but starting with chapter 17 it went downhill.
    It was a lot of unnecessary parts and details that took away from the actual plot. I loved Gilded Mountain, but this one is disappointing.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If ever there was a novel that a woman claiming "i don't need feminism" should read, this is it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very long, but worth it. Informative and interesting, all the way through. Based on the true story of an abortionist in the mid to late 1800s, dubbed "The Wickedest Woman in New York," it outlines many good reasons a woman might need to abort a fetus, and what she did to help many do so.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The historical fiction of Ann "Axie" Muldoon, an orphan who worked her way to become a midwife and women's "doctor" in the late 1800s, early 1900s in New York City.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow! All I can say was this was an amazing story! More twists and exciting turns than Jane Eyre! Do not miss this book! Fantastic!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent historical novel about a midwife in late 19th century. Birth control, choice, women’s health. Great character. Based on a real person.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I like it, but I got impatient with it at a little over the half-way point and didn’t finish it
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I enjoyed reading about the pour female souls of the 1800’s and how they dealt with unwanted pregnancies and female afflictions. The heroine of the story never last her focus of taking care of womwn in their hour of need. It is still shoking to read how women were treated as less than human in many circumstances. Many twists and turns, interesting read..
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    As usual, historical novels that explore an unappreciated segment of society proves to be interesting reading. Mid-century New York was filled with immigrants, including women who found themselves with children they could not afford, and no legal way to protect themselves from bearing more children. When Axie Muldoon and her two siblings are sent on the orphan’s train to Illinois, she refuses to stay and returns to New York City. She finds her mother and watches her mother die delivering another child. Axie finds herself apprenticed to a midwife who also provides abortions. Going into business for herself, Axie and her husband find there’s an eager market among the wealthy for birth control and abortions. Of course, not only are abortions against the law but the selling of birth control raises the ire of the law. She is jailed…..but it isn’t the end of how she helps women.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "Them officials lived in a world of smoke and pronouncements, rooms full of throat clearings and whiskey breath, whereas we, my customers and me, lived just in our own flesh, the blood and bones. We were factories of blood and bones, in fact. These authorities knew nothing of us and what went on in our private country. They could not be bothered. How are they to guess which woman was interfered with by me and who wasn't or why? Blood was blood and women was bleeding regular all the time. Who was to know the difference? Who would come forward? Who would tell? No one. There was no need. There was nothing but shame in telling. It was for ourselves, in danger, that we decided. And for our children. It was not the business of men, despite the kindly philosophers' parlor pontifications on the subject. These matters was now, and always was, for a female to determine. We knew how to keep our secrets. Our lives and honor depended on it."Stunning and monumental; Notorious Life is a riveting tale. Manning has created with astonishing skill a provocative, devastating portrait of a character who is fictional, yet richly steeped in historical truth. I would describe My Notorious Life as a saga, as the narrative and emotional scope of Manning's novel is considerable. I was enthralled by Axie and her impossible journey from an impoverished orphan, to a midwife's apprentice, to an empowered force to be reckoned with. As an early champion for women's rights, she faces indomitable obstacles as she midwifes, promotes and distributes contraceptives, and performs early-term abortions. Her compassion for women, her resilience, and yet also her vulnerability as she grows to be one of the most notorious figures of 19th century America is haunting and unforgettable. Most exquisite is Axie's pluck and her running commentary on society and culture as she scales the social ladder and ventures into motherhood, yet maintains a connection to her humble roots. One of my most powerful reads this year, and easily my favorite heroine.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What a timely story! If you’re pro-life, this is not the book for you; it contains frank descriptions of unwanted pregnancy, death in childbirth, and abortion procedures before the existence of painkillers and safe methods. Based on a real midwife-abortionist in 19th century New York, the book tells the story of an orphan girl who rises to prominence as a midwife, and more importantly, an abortion provider who helps women manage their pregnancies. It exposes the difficulties women faced as marginalized members of society with few rights; widespread misogyny and religious dogma relegated women to second-class status. A moral crusade led by politicians and male physicians resulted in the criminalization of abortions and imprisonment of providers of these services. The story is a parable for what’s happening today. We’re fighting for our rights again, 150 years later. There’s been a growing effort among politicians and the religious right to dictate what women can and cannot do with their own bodies. We currently have effective contraception and safe abortions, but how long will it be before women have to resort to wire hangers and back room abortions? Manning’s story raises issues that resonate today about reproductive rights and the ability of women to have control over their bodies. It’s time to stop being complacent and act up.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a fascinating and well written fictionalized account of the life of the notorious Madame X, a midwife in late 19th century New York. It took a while to get used to the style in which it was written, but I couldn't put it down while reading the first half.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The historical fiction of Ann "Axie" Muldoon, an orphan who worked her way to become a midwife and women's "doctor" in the late 1800s, early 1900s in New York City.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This story had a lot of potential, which is why I kept with it until the end. The first half of the book was good and kept the story moving. However, the second half just seemed to drag along. The main character became whiny and self absorbed, and the other characters seemed like cardboard props.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great fictional story based on the real midwife-abortionist of NYC during the late 1800's. Its interesting how some things haven't changed and the discussion continues on the moral questions faced in this book involving the prevention and termination of pregnancy. Thank goodness woman have contraception and professional medical (fda approved -Lunar tablets) & surgical safe havens to go to for help today. This book is more than just a story of an abortionist, its a story of survival. Just the term abortionist makes it sound so evil - but Madame X really was a compassionate person who really did save lives. - Axie Muldoon survives many obstacles in her life from an orphan on the train and on the streets of NYC, as a house maid for the Dr & Mrs Evans where she becomes her assistant, the loss of her sister Dutch & brother Joe and the loss of her reputation. Kate Manning grabs your attention from the 1st page and 434 pages later you are still on the edge of your seat with anticipation and finally ready to relax on the last page. Captivating story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    My Notorious Life, written by Kate Manning, is one of those books that you should keep in your book collection, because trust me… It will become one of those guilty pleasures that you have to read again and again!The book is written in such way that your imagination will take off, and you won’t have any problems picturing places, faces and feelings. And the themes inside the main story (poverty, greed, love, midwifery, feminism, abortion) will keep you reading non-stop, because from the start the main character captivates you and steals your heart. She has been through so much tragedy growing up, but instead of feeling pity for her, you find yourself cheering her on through the bad times and the horrible times! (Yes… there’s really messed up situations while she’s an adult). But in the end she comes through.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well, THAT was quite a ride! I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. Manning has taken the bare bones outline of the life of Ann Trow, a Victorian midwife/abortionist, and created the fascinating story of Axie Muldoon, Irish immigrants' daughter who rose from the slums of New York to living in a Fifth Avenue mansion. Along the way, Axie gets shipped west on an orphan train with her younger brother and sister, is shipped back for her recalcitrant behavior, then finds a job as a maid to a local "ladies doctor" who takes her on as an assistant. Through pluck and enterprise, Axie--known as Madame Debeausacq--and her husband Charlie survive and then thrive on her remedies for "female obstructions. Apparently the law turned a blind eye to such doings until Anthony Comstock and his Society for the Suppression of Vice (which included everything from prostitution and abortion to contraceptive pamphlets and anatomy texbooks) got involved.Manning's strategy for giving this story something new is to create Axie as a sympathetic character who is neither a crusader nor the monster that Comstock insists she is. We see her as someone with a conscience whose personal history prompts her compassion for the women--many of them in dire circumstances--who come to her for help. The novel's subplots and lesser characters are equally engaging. It left me wanting to know more about Ann Trow, her life, and her struggles.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Outstanding history of NYC as told through the amazing life of Axie Muldoon, a child of immigrants who rises to become one of the first female gynecologists in the 1860s. Axie sees it all - the Orphan Train, the draft riots, and the rise of the miserable Anthony Comstock, predecessor of today's he man woman hating Republicans. It's based on real life and I'll leave you to discover whose. I'm going to read whatever I can about her.Most vividly portrayed are Axie's relationships with her "Mam", brother, sister, daughter, nuns, patients, and most of all with her orphan husband Charlie. Axie lives a mistrustful life until she is finally given reason to relax into those who love her.The story just gallops on. It's a ripped-from-ancient headlines true page turner. Would make an excellent film. Most highly recommended!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a fabulous read! An historical novel based on real life events and people this story primarily depicts women's lives in the late 19th century. The main character, Axie Muldoon, is strong and colorful rising from her childhood as a train orphan in abject poverty to Madame X - a notorious and falsely accused midwife in NYC. She is an angel to frightened pregnant women and families - dispensing information and quality medical care. She threatens the status quo and power of men - becoming a scandal in a severely unbalanced culture. Axie pulls no punches and has a straightforward view of life. She is family oriented, kind to women - suspicious of men. Her motto is to never trust a man who says "Trust me"... and for good reason. Logical and clear-headed, she is also quick to see the humor of a situation. While pregnant with her daughter, she observes"My stomach was so large now it could have its own moon."This is a well written, page-turning, honest account of the struggle to address women's poverty, misery, poor health and death resulting from the lack of resources and family planning. Much anguish can be relieved and more comfortable family life maintained with some basic sex education and simple products that are illegal, banned, and scorned through gross ignorance and fear in the late 1800s time period.... and still an issue today.Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I absolutely loved this book... one you don't want to put down, dying to see how it ends, and sad that it does end.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    If prostitution is the world's oldest profession, then almost by definition, the midwife/abortionist has to be number two. In My Notorious Life we follow the life of a poor child of Irish immigrants, Ann "Axie" Muldoon, as she travels from the slums of New York to riches as a midwife/abortionist in the late Nineteenth Century.We first meet Axie and her two siblings begging on the streets of New York. Their mother, recently widowed, is sick at home after being injured at the laundry where she works. The children are discovered by the Rev. Charles Brace, who takes their mother to the hospital for her injuries to be ended to and then puts the children on one of the Orphan trains headed west. When the train arrives in Illinois, Axie's sister and brother are quickly selected by families for adoption. But Axie is deemed too headstrong, and at last, is nly taken in by the wife of the local minister. Axie keeps hoping she will reunite her family, but her siblings' adoptive parents are even more determined to keep them apart. Finally, Axie takes a chance on returning to New York to at least be back with her mother. Once back in New York she finds her mother remarried and heavily pregnant. Although she is overjoyed to see Axie, it is clear that there is no room in the household for the child. When her mother goes into labor, Axie is confronted with the worst of childbirth and in desperation she gets her mother to the home of a doctor, whose wife is a well-known midwife. Afer her mother dies, she is taken on as an apprentice to the woman, Mrs. Evans.With Mrs. Evans she learns about the art of bringing children into the world and also, the opposite - theart of getting rid of children who ar unwanted.When Mrs. Evans dies and her husband reuses o pay her her back wages, she strikes out on her own and quickly becomes known, not only for being able to deliver babies, but also for dispensing information about contraception and elimination of unwanted "problems" With the help of her husband Charlie, a fellow orphan from the Orphan Train, she amasses a considerable empire - enough to build herself a mansion on Fifth Avenue. Things are looking up until the moral arbitrators of the day,including Anthony Comstock (he of the post office laws against sending "objectionable" materials through the US mail) put her and her enterprises in their gun sights.Throughout, the book raises issues that resonate today about reproductive rights and the ability of women to have control over their bodies. Unfortunately, the book is not ver well written. Characters are not well flushed out and the dialogue is amateurish. Also the author's method of using astericks to disguise words that would have been objectionable to a nineteenth century reader (b*****d, M*n**s, etc.) get to be really irritating after about 50 pages. While the book is worth reading for the issues it raises, it would be a much better read in the hands of a writer with better skills.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A really good work of historical fiction based on a real character in early New York City, best for women.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Written in somewhat of a melodramatic fashion and yes sometimes I felt a little too dramatic yet it was impossible for me to not get caught up in Axie's story. For one thing I just love this character's name, Axie Muldoon, just resonated for me for some reason. That this book is loosely built on the real life person of a female medical doctor once considered the Wickedest Women in New York, is a plus because it makes the story so much more genuine. This book contains so much history, and I feel that the author's writing was the strongest in her descriptions of the streets of New York, with so many immigrants and orphans, a street that was filthy and not very friendly too many. The orphan trains and the splitting up of families. A journey through women's contraceptive practices of the day, the beginning trade in medicines, where people were willing to part with their few dollars just on the hope that something would work. The trade of midwife and all it entailed and of course Comstock and his moral crusade to clear out profanity of any kind.Axie is a character that is larger than life at a time when choices for woman were at their lowest. The ending is a little too pat, but I can live with it. I kept thinking what a wonderful mini-series this book would be. Maybe gain a wonderful following like The Midwives and Downton Abbey. Think it would work wonderfully well.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I listened to the audiobook of Kate Manning’s MY NOTORIOUS LIFE, and it was amazing. The notorious life in question is that of Axie Muldoon, a poor orphan who became a very wealthy female physician and midwife in 19th century New York City. This epic tale was brilliantly narrated by Terry Donnelly, who I believe was channeling Axie as she read her memoirs. Ms. Donnelly’s performance truly captured Axie's passion and courage.Axie Muldoon is one of the most memorable protagonists I’ve read. She went from begging on the streets to earning $10,000 a week running a women’s clinic. But Axie wasn’t in it for the money. As a child and later as a midwife’s assistant, she witnessed the danger and hardship women faced with pregnancy and birth, especially poor women who couldn’t afford to care for the children they already had. However, her clients spanned all social classes, from the destitute to high society ladies. In addition to her midwifery service, Axie educated women about birth control and birth control products, something considered scandalous and immoral at the time. When a pregnancy occurred and was unwanted, she provided “Lunar Tablets” or abortions to women in need, which eventually landed her in a heap of trouble with the law.MY NOTORIOUS LIFE stirred up a lot of emotions in me while reading it. Sorrow at the stories of the orphan train children. Anger at the treatment of women and the questionable legal system. Joy over the fact that Axie refused to let her enemies keep her down. Kate Manning has written a compelling novel about the plight of women and reproductive rights, and of course, the battle over these issues continues today. Highly recommended!Source: Review copy from publisher.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In 1860 Axie Muldoon, at 13 is the oldest of three children, fatherless and trying to survive the streets of New York by begging for food. Their mother, injured in a workplace accident, suffering the loss of one arm and succumbing to fever, allows the children to be taken for adoption in the Western States. However, Axie is not wanted for adoption. Her smart mouth and abrupt nature prevent her from being chosen as her brother and sister have. After a short time Axie returns to New York. Once again she is on her own, and goes into service for a doctor and his wife, a midwife. Axie takes on the role of assistant to the midwife and the skills she learns from this woman set her on the path of notoriety she is destined for.Axie begins by selling potions at a market for women’s maladies. She meets and in time marries Charlie Jones, a fellow orphan, who supports and encourages her in her quest to become a midwife. But along with the wonder of delivering healthy babies to healthy mothers, Axie also provides abortions. In the late 19th Century, women are defined by their husbands and guardians. They have no control over their own fertility and many women were forced to seek abortions. With no contraception available and women vulnerable to sexual abuse, abortion was their only hope. Axie, as Madame X, was able to provide them with this service.When men such as the zealous crusader Anthony Comstock began his moral crusade against midwives, Axie’s now affluent lifestyle and happy family life was in danger. This rags to riches story based on real life, is captivating. Axie is a fascinating character. A feisty, rambunctious and eminently interesting woman who provided a health service to women in dire need, often against her own best interests. The story is told in the style of a journal which provides the reader with real empathy for this notorious woman and the times in which she lived. My only complaint about this wonderful story is the way in which all swear words have been censored (so many *****’s!). It interrupted the flow of the story and was unnecessary in my opinion.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A compelling and provocative tale, author Kate Manning blends history and imagination to create a wonderfully rich portrait of an extraordinary character. My Notorious Life is loosely based on the history of 19th-century New York midwife and abortionist Ann Trow Lohman, better known as Madame Restell.The narrative of this tale is in the first person point of view and takes the form of a journal, chronicling the life of Axie (Ann) Muldoon. It begins with thirteen year old Axie begging with her younger siblings, sister Dutchie and brother Joe, on the streets of New York and follows her rising and falling fortunes after being separated from her family and eventually apprenticed to Mrs Evans, a Manhattan midwife who also treats ‘womens troubles’. Reunited with fellow street urchin turned print setter and aspiring journalist, Charlie G Jones, whom she marries, the death of Mrs Evans and the couple’s poverty inspires Axie to manufacture and sell medicinal aids for female complaints, a business that soon expands to include advising women on matters such as contraception, and offering both midwifery care and early term abortions for those desperate enough to seek them.Axie is a character who will get under your skin. Feisty, loyal, compassionate and brave, she is an uncommon woman for the times. Manning develops her beautifully from an orphaned 13 year old street rat to a wealthy wife, mother and midwife. Her journey from ‘rags to riches’ is remarkable but the fine clothes and fancy decor doesn’t changes who she is, despite the veneer of wealth.For Axie, whose own mother died from childbirth fever, abortion was a practice that she honoured despite its unpleasantness. I found Axie’s initial ambivalence interesting, while she understood the desperation of women worn out by childbirth, girls taken advantage of by their ‘guardians’, women seduced by the sweet nothings whispered by those they loved, it took her some time to recognise the value of the service she provided.The social portrait of 18th century America is brilliantly drawn. The disparity in class, economic and educational opportunities, the lack of social welfare and the unfettered misogyny of religion, politics and government. Central to My Notorious Life however are the issues that women faced as marginalised members of society with few rights.With the distinct lack of contraceptive options in the late 19th century women had little control over their fertility. For wives who were unable to refuse sex with their husbands, multiple pregnancies increased the already high risk of death in childbirth or other crippling complications.Women were also particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and assault, and as men abdicated any responsibility with impunity, once impregnated they were ostracised by society.As such, women relied on abortion to terminate unwanted pregnancies and at the time it was a accepted practice, though not openly discussed. Home remedies such as gin and hot bath, concoctions with dubious medicinal qualities such as the type Axie sells after leaving the Evans were tried while others sought out a sympathetic midwife for a abortion. The procedure, as long as it was performed before the ‘quickening’ was not made illegal until Comstock began his moral crusade, backed by (male) doctors who were determined to wrest control of obstetric practices away from midwives.While My Notorious Life explores the history of social and health issues it is foremost a remarkable and compelling story that I could not put down. I found it fascinating, thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining and I offer it to you with my highest recommendation.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Based on real-life New York midwife Ann Trow Lohman, this first-person account in the form of a ‘newly discovered diary’ tells the life story of Annie ‘Axie’ Muldoon, a poor Irish immigrant child growing up in New York during the latter half of the 19th century. Sent away from her mother by a well-meaning Christian children’s charity when she’s twelve years old along with her two younger siblings, she fails to be adopted and returns to New York, only to witness her mother dying in childbirth. These events scar Axie for life and set her on the path to becoming a successful midwife and a notorious abortionist and supplier of female pills, the Madame X of the title. Right from the start we can tell that Axie is a fighter, and I warmed to her immediately. Her voice is a spirited one, and she describes the hardships, deprivations, squalor and the personal heartaches and tragedies that she experiences unflinchingly and quite matter-of-factly at times, but her account is poignant and heartbreaking nonetheless. You get a real sense of what it was like living in New York during this period, especially as a child or a woman, and there are some graphic descriptions of giving birth and other female afflictions that are not suitable for the squeamish, but the prose throughout the book is wonderfully descriptive and imaginative, and Axie’s colourful turns of phrase often made me smile. But at the heart of this historical novel sits an issue that will still ruffle feathers today: that of contraception and abortion. Axie as the author’s mouthpiece makes a strong case for contraception and abortion (until the child is “quick”, i.e. can be felt kicking), and one would have to possess a heart of stone not to be moved by the stories of some of the women that she helps. Exposing the duplicity and hypocrisy of a large proportion of the male population at the time, Axie pursues feminist issues that bring her into direct conflict with the church, press, police and the judiciary; disguised as historical fiction, Kate Manning is able to address issues that are still pertinent and controversial in the present, such as the “population question” and standing up for the rights of women where their bodies are concerned, that will still have certain religious groups and institutions and pro-life campaigners up in arms. There are a few small inaccuracies in the timeline, but as this is an advance reading copy, these may well have been resolved in the final printed version of the book. The reason I can’t quite give this five stars is that I felt the middle section drag slightly, where the author spends a little too much time going into colourful, but in the end unnecessary, detail, that did nothing to propel the story along. A 19th-century American version of “Call the midwife”, this makes for thought-provoking reading.(This review was originally written as part of Amazon's Vine programme.)