The Oldest Professions: From Elegy to Orpheus

by C.L. Dahl

Will’s life is supposed to be a happy one. He’s the top young associate at Seattle’s most prestigious law firm, married to a beautiful woman, living in a big house and driving a flashy sports car. The facets of his diamond life mirror the American Dream, the dream prescribed like a steady diet of drugs by happily-ever-after pushers – Hollywood, TV, newspapers, book publishers, social networks – and reinforced by those around us who've wrestled or are wrestling to have a similar dream prescription filled. But for Will, something isn’t right. The Oldest Professions is an adventure of the heart, mind and morality for the firm’s rising star and the dark angel, Katherine Cole, who flies into his life. Katherine, a late-thirties courtesan, siren calls young Will away from the moral and social expectations of his apparently perfect life into her sensual world. Theft, scandal and the latent corruption in the 100 year old law firm are exposed, prostitution and sexuality explored and our societal norms interrogated. Whether or not this novel stimulates pleasure or disgust, laughter or tears, agreement or opposition, at its core it's about answering a question we all face - who am I really and what do I want in life?

357 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2011