Out of the Easy
Ruta Sepetys
Language: English
Pages: 384
ISBN: 0147508436
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
“A haunting peek at the life of a teenage girl in 1950s New Orleans.”--Entertainment Weekly
It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street.
Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.
With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.
Walk on Earth a Stranger (Gold Seer Trilogy, Book 1)
The Burning Shadow (Gods and Warriors Series, Book 2)
The Diviners (The Diviners, Book 1)
Fallen Into the Pit (Felse, Book 1)
Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa. Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England. Copyright © 2013 by Ruta Sepetys. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission in writing from the publisher, Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014. Philomel Books, Reg. U.S. Pat & Tm. Off. Please do not participate in
us make a phone call. She rang the house to check in. I heard the warble of Dora’s voice through the receiver but couldn’t make out the words. “Tell ’em to come by tonight at ten. I can be back and ready by then,” said Willie. “Call Lucinda and have her bring a couple girls with her. No, of course not the redhead. I don’t need another catfight. Okay. All right. We’ll leave as soon as we can.” Willie hung up the phone. “Six johns from Cuba. They came by last year and dropped nearly five grand
the occasional red beans and rice incident on the Gedricks’ sidewalk, I was healthy. Scholarship. The one B in Mr. Proffitt’s class was going to haunt me. I could still feel his sticky mothball breath steaming over my desk. Did he eat rotten sweaters from his attic? “You must apply yourself, Miss Moraine,” he would say in his whispery tone. “You must seek the soul of the equation.” The soul of the equation? I wasn’t convinced that calculus had anything close to a soul. But I should have
my uncle’s retirement party. The dress felt tight through the chest and hips, but the saleswoman assured me that it was stylish to look shapely, even for a retirement party. She helped me pick out stockings and undergarments. She suggested shoes to match, but I opted for a pair of black pumps. Black was more practical. I could be buried in them if things didn’t work out. I teetered on the high heels at first, my pale ankles rubbery. She suggested I walk in the shoes a bit to get used to the
champagne. He sat down close to me and handed me the tall flute. He raised his glass. “To new beginnings.” He took a big swallow. I tilted the glass and let the champagne touch my closed lips. I put the glass on the table in front of me. “You look gorgeous, Josephine. The neckline’s a little high, but your modesty makes you even sexier.” He slid his hand onto my thigh. The moth flapped harder at my windpipe. “So this is what fifty dollars does?” he said. “I like it.” I swallowed hard, hoping