Jaine Blackman on an Oxford author’s novel about post-war prostitutes

On a hot July day, three elderly people are found dead at a run-down house in London’s fashionable Primrose Hill. Reading the story in a newspaper as she prepares to leave the country, Marie Gillies has a feeling that she is somehow to blame… and that’s not something that makes her unhappy.

How the three people came to live together and how they all died at the same time forms the basis of Oxford author Molly McGrann’s third novel.

It’s the first book by McGrann, a literary critic, poet and novelist and former editor at The Paris Review, to be set in England.

Originally from the US, she now lives in Oxfordshire with husband Colin Greenwood, of Radiohead, and their three sons.

McGrann became interested in the way prostitution in post-war London provided a different kind of independence for women after the freedoms they had briefly gained while the men were away fighting were lost.

The resulting book brilliantly captures the world of prostitution and brothels in London after the Second World War.

The common thread is Arthur Gillies, a man with a double life, who has made his fortune through a string of brothels.

Primarily, the stories of former prostitutes Rita and Annetta are told, along with those of Gilllie’s wife, daughter and son.

Atmospheric and imaginative, The Ladies Of The House – which was recently chosen as a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime – has been billed as a tragi-comedy. However, while admiring the well-drawn characters and recognising their at-times ridiculousness, I found it essentially sad.

It’s a good read, though, with great period detail, strong women characters, interesting themes of independence and ageing, and plenty of wry humour.

The ladies are likely to linger in your thoughts long after you have put the book down.

The Ladies of the House by Molly McGrann is published by Picador, priced £12.99