In the late 1950s, life in the Big Easy was anything but easy. And that goes especially for young Josie Moraine, seventeen-year-old daughter of a narcissistic prostitute. Josie lives alone and works in a bookstore; searches for the father she never knew; and hopes to be able to leave New Orleans and make it on her own. Trying to pull yourself up by your bootstraps sounds like the American dream, but for Josie it's more of a nightmare. She also works as a maid for New Orleans's premier madam, becomes tied to a murder, owes money to a Mafia boss, and comes close to selling herself to an uptown businessman so she can pay off the bills. If this sounds like melodrama, it is, all playing out in a setting that Sepetys creates more by name-checking geography than by imparting an actual sense of the city and its culture. Numerous names of streets, restaurants (from Commander's Palace to Meal-a-Minut), and department stores (such as Maison Blanche and D. H. Holmes -- locally, but not here, known as Holmeses) crowd the novel, as do myriad characters and plot threads. Still, there's that allure of reading about the forbidden and unknown that will appeal to many a young adult looking for summer escapism. betty carter (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 9 Up-Against a vivid 1950s New Orleans backdrop, 17-year-old Josie Moraine is caught between the harsh reality of her negligent, prostitute mother's lifestyle and her desire to escape to a new life. Josie is smart, resourceful, and determined. Her support group includes Willie, the shrewd brothel madam who recognizes Josie's potential; Cokie, Willie's kind and devoted driver; Patrick, who runs the bookshop where Josie works; Charlotte, an upscale acquaintance who encourages Josie to join her at Smith College; and Jesse, the handsome motorcyclist neighbor who has eyes only for Josie. When a mysterious death leads police to Josie's mother and abusive boyfriend, the teen is drawn into the investigation and into an underworld of threats, violence, and retribution. After her mother skips town, Josie is targeted to repay her debt to a powerful criminal boss. As she tries to handle mounting adversity on her own, she struggles with fear, desperation, and her conscience. Stealing from Willie or hooking up with a wealthy john seem her only choices for survival. Overwhelmed, she reveals her predicament to Willie, who saves her in a final act of generosity. Josie's narrative features a Dickensian array of characters; the mystique, ambience, and language of the French Quarter; a suspenseful, action-packed story; and a coming-of-age realization that personal decisions ultimately shape one's future. With dramatic and contextual flair, Sepetys introduces teens to another memorable heroine.-Gerry Larson, formerly at Durham School of the Arts, NC (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In a radical departure from her first novel, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys' second is partially set in a 1950s New Orleans brothel where Josie's mother works as a prostitute. Humiliated, the 18-year-old fears she is destined for nothing more than a crummy life skirting the New Orleans underworld. That underworld looms larger when a murder occurs and it appears Josie's mother may be complicit. Josie's dream is to go to Smith College, but even if she is admitted, how will she pay for it? Meanwhile, she finds herself attracted to two very different young men: her best friend, clean-cut Patrick, with whom she works at his father's bookstore, and quietly mysterious biker Jesse. Complicated? You bet! Sepetys' latest strongly evokes 1950s radio soap operas, but despite over-the-top emotional pitch and stereotypical characters, this is nevertheless a page-turner that noir romance fans will gobble up like popcorn shrimp. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The legions of fans that Sepetys earned with her best-selling debut novel will all be lining up for this.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist

As a girl, I was obsessed with prostitutes. The hookers I saw on television wore silk kimonos and had cigarettes permanently attached to their lips - mean on the outside but like bruised baby birds on the inside. My experiences baby-sitting showed me I wasn't the only girl interested in a socalled life of sin. At 12, I once picked up a daisy-covered address book, to find only one entry, under P, Prostitute, followed by a list of massage parlor numbers. Josie Moraine, the heroine of Ruta Sepetys's "Out of the Easy," set in 1950 New Orleans, is a prostitute's daughter. Right away, this marks the book as different from the author's highly acclaimed first young adult novel, "Between Shades of Gray," which told the story of a 15-year-old Lithuanian confined to Stalin's labor camps. This new book opens in a fancy hotel, where Josie's mother, Louise, retreats with a John, leaving Josie, then 7, to sleep in the lobby. Soon her mother, a bad seed if ever there was one, is working as one of Willie Woodley's "nieces" in the city's French Quarter. The house interior is all dark brocade, black crystal chandeliers and paintings of women with exposed pink nipples. Josie, spirited and smart, prefers the local bookstore, where she hangs around so often that the owner, Charlie, gives her a room in the attic when she is 11. This retreat does not protect her completely. Men still leer, offering money for her virginity and asking her to wear high heels. Josie's days are equal parts sacred and profane. At night she reads E. M. Forster, and in the mornings, using rubber gloves, she cleans the bordello. The novel centers on a murder. A bookstore customer is killed late on the night of his visit, and Josie's mother may or may not be involved. While the plot points are initiated mostly by men - Louise's gangster boyfriend, Cincinnati; the mobster Tangle Eye; and the boss Carlos Marcello - the heart of "Out of the Easy" is its women. The bordello's inhabitants are predictably lovable: Sweety, a "quadroon girl," lives with her grandmother and washes her sheets herself. Dora, a buxom redhead, wears only green. Josie finds her "snoring in a collapsed bed with a melted ice pack between her legs." Evangeline, the solitary mean one, is a kleptomaniac who dresses up for a John in schoolgirl braids. Josie's mother is no real mother at all, coming to "parent day" naked underneath a full-length fur coat, stealing her daughter's college savings and worst of all, urging her boyfriend to rob and beat Josie's champion, Charlie. Only the madam, Willie, mothers Josie, showing up at her graduation, giving her a gold watch for her 18th birthday, offering to pay her college tuition (but only if she goes to school in New Orleans, not at Smith, which she'd like to attend). Willie is also an excellent shot, keeping her guns hidden in a golf bag. Sepetys based Willie on Norma Wallace, the last great madam of the French Quarter. Wallace was born into poverty but rose to become an underworld force in New Orleans for more than four decades. A lot happens in "Out of the Easy." Besides the murder, Josie finds out her coworker Patrick, the boy she has a crush on, is gay. She befriends Charlotte, a Smith student who shows her the upper echelons of New Orleans life. In the book's final movement, all hell breaks loose. Cops raid Willie's house. Louise slips town, leaving her daughter saddled with a mob debt. Fearing for her own life and for those she loves, Josie realizes she may have to get into the game and give up on her dreams. Sepetys writes these scenes with rawness and palpable emotional unease; most daughters fear they will become like their mothers, but for the daughters of prostitutes the stakes are momentous. While "Out of the Easy" is a satisfying novel, bringing to life the midcentury French Quarter, and Josie is beguiling when relating details of her world backstage at the cathouse, the gangsters are mostly flat and their interactions with Josie one-dimensional. Similarly, Willie and her nieces teeter perilously close to the cliché of the hooker with a heart of gold. I worry, given the allure of the subject for girls, that Sepetys softens the sadness and complexity of prostitution. Josie wants more for herself. She is smart, but her intelligence does not automatically free her from social confines. Like every young woman, Josie must negotiate a world where her body is valued over her mind. Her awareness of this difficult position may be what helps her get out of the Easy and into life. Darcey Steinke's most recent book is the memoir "Easter Everywhere."

Sepetys follows her debut, Between Shades of Gray, with another taut and charged historical novel, though the setting-the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1950-is a world apart from that of her previous book. Living and working in a bookshop, 17-year-old Josie Moraine dreams of attending college-anything to get away from her mother, a prostitute with Hollywood dreams and a knack for getting involved with the worst men. When Josie becomes involved in a high-profile murder investigation, she becomes even more entrenched in her circumstances. The sensual yet rigidly class-based setting is a real standout, and Sepetys has also built a stellar cast, which includes Willie, a strident but generous madam; Charlie Marlowe, the bookshop's owner; and a pair of potential love interests for Josie. Readers will find Josie irresistible from the get-go ("The only reason I'd lift my skirt is to pull out my pistol and plug you," she tells a guy early on) and will devour the sultry mix of mystery, historical detail, and romance. Ages 14-up. Agent: Writers House. (Feb.)? (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Step right onto the rough streets of the New Orleans French Quarter, circa 1950 and meet 17-year-old Josie Moraine, a feisty young woman whose mother, a prostitute in a Conti Street brothel, offers her nothing but scorn and abuse. From the tender age of 12, Josie has made her own way in the world, working in a local bookstore in exchange for a safe place to sleep and cleaning the brothel to earn money toward her planned escape from the Big Easy. Equal parts book smart and street smart, Josie's dream is to attend Smith College, and she will go to extremes, even blackmail, in her desperation to be accepted. But just when her plans start to gain some traction, her mother strikes again, putting Josie in the middle of a murder investigation and saddling her with a mob debt. There are some meaningful messages here: that love can come from the unlikeliest of sources--the rough-and-tumble brothel madam is much more supportive of Josie than her mother ever was--and that we are all in control of our own destinies if only we choose to be. With a rich and realistic setting, a compelling and entertaining first-person narration, a colorful cast of memorable characters and an intriguing storyline, this is a surefire winner. Immensely satisfying. (Historical fiction. 14 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.