"From the first page, (Mogador) declares her intention to tell the real story of a courtesan's experiences... Celeste's telegraphic, mostly unadorned, literary style supports her claim to authenticity - -she was almost entirely uneducated, and at 15 could barely read. But it is the palpable pleasure she takes in seeing people and events clearly, even recognizing her own flaws and those of the people she loves and wishes to think well of, that gives her book the complexity of truth - -the kind of complex truth we often look for in modern fiction." December 2, 2001, "Holiday Books" issue of the New York Times Book