Frog Music

Be prepared. Donoghue is going to take you into the real world of misfits of the San Francisco of 1876. It isn't ruffles and lace. Before you close this book, you will frequent a tawdry burlesque, you'll retrieve your baby from a caregiver who has left tens of children to lie in their own waste, you will befriend a woman who catches frogs in the mud and muck, and you will, finally, dare to cast off your sycophant boyfriend who spends his days gambling away your hard-earned money.

It's not a pretty world. But it is, I suspect, very, very real.