City of Desire: A Novel

City of Desire is the deeply researched but fictionalized telling of the beautiful, smart, and tragic Helen Jewett―New York City’s most desired prostitute in in the 1830s. This compelling debut novel by Sidney Morrison is based on the historical facts of Jewett’s life and murder, and the subsequent trial of the accused killer.

Helen comes from poverty, but her father hires his precocious child to a respected judge as a servant and companion to his children. She captivates him, and the judge creates an avid student of literature, history, politics, and sex. Her intellectual and sexual development leads to scandal, and she is dismissed.

Seventeen and “ruined” without references, Helen lands in New York City and turns to prostitution for survival. Helen attracts the attention of reporters, moral crusaders, as well as the rich and powerful who seek her services in the best brothels in town. Her obsession with a client proves her undoing.