The Maimie Papers: Letters from an Ex-Prostitute

Maimie Pinzer should never have confined her writing talent to the realm of letters. With her insights, life experience, and ability to tell the truth with the same flair that fiction authors tell a good story, she could have been a social historian on a par with Charles Dickens. "The Maimie Papers" provides us with invaluable insight into why so many young women chose prostitution over threadbare yet respectable lives. Too many contemporary books and treatises on the subject are religious in theme and little more than repentance speeches from former prostitutes. Maimie Pinzer rationalized her choices without once apologizing for them, and once in a position to do so, combatted the prostitution problem using compassion and common sense, not blind religious fervor. The book consists of a collection of letters that Maimie wrote to Boston philanthropist Fanny Quincy Howe between 1910 and 1922. Reading each one chronologically, one sees her progress from a floundering victim desperate for 'respectability' to an assertive young woman who challenges the system and may not always win, but emerges stronger via the effort.

I liked this book a lot. Maimie's trials and tribulations never abated her spirit and as she hoped against hope and did what she believed right for herself and those near her, she developed into a sharp business woman. If not for the misfortunes of the war she might have become successful and rich, her keen business sense is remarkable in a woman of that period and class. Her faith never lost, she seems to have succeeded (not many records found after the letters end to give us the full picture) in creating for herself a happy and normal life. We should all have such an unquenchable spirit to try and try again and never give up!