Women Without Men by Reed Marr

The ugly and the beautiful, the depraved and the innocent, the dangerous and the frightened (the run-on sentence!), they shuffled through the days in baggy, gray cotton – the women whom society had imprisoned in Kennetank.

Kennetank, where evil flourished and fear ruled and even the warden was powerless to stop it.

For behind its walls the habitual thief called the Queen reigned – her weapons terror and coercion, twisted loves and passionate hates.

Soon she would have a new courtier – or enemy. Mary Holloway was coming to Kennetank, and the prison buzzed excitedly with the news. For Mary was a celebrity – the beautiful star attraction of the recent vice trials.

Kennetank was waiting for her, and so was the Queen 0 the gray, gross spider weaving a web that would imprison Mary more degradingly than any cell in the world. ~ back cover