Mrs. Victoria Buys a Brothel: The Definitive Edition

Mrs. Victoria Buys a Brothel #1-2

by Talhí Briones

A sweeping queer historical romance about chosen family, healing after abuse, women who refuse to disappear, and finding love where no one thought it could exist.

1865, United States—
It took thirty years and a dislocated arm for Victoria to leave her abusive husband.
Heartbroken, she has to choose her own life over the hope of ever seeing her son again. She escapes the manor in the dead of night carrying nothing but a white wedding dress.
Her journey leads to Swainsburg, a tiny town in Wyoming where the local prostitutes take her in as one of their own.
To save them from eviction, Victoria buys the brothel.
Running a house of entertainment turns out to involve far more than piano recitals, cancan performances, and charming lonely cowboys. Her violent past refuses to stay buried, respectable society keeps its distance, and danger follows her across the frontier.
It’s hard to navigate the delicate tensions between respectable ladies and whores, between white society and the “others.” Her new friends are women who carved out a place for themselves in this merciless world; people who, like her, came to Swainsburg after growing tired of running.

Victoria falls in love. She doesn’t notice; she can’t even imagine the possibility.

The townspeople say the widow Díaz is strange. Natane is actually incredibly awkward, kind, and very lonely. Victoria has no name for this burning friendship, but the feeling grows and demands to be acknowledged.

A story about about women who age, gossip, drink, fall in love, and help you hide the body of your dead husband.

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This definitive edition includes the complete novel plus The Tales of Swainsburg, an exclusive companion collection featuring 13 stories about your favourite characters from the world of Mrs. Victoria buys a brothel.

Genres: Queer, Romance, Fiction, Historical Fiction

518 pages, ebook

First published May 20, 2025

About the author

Talhí Briones was born in Chile and grew up in Montréal, Canada.

Both a writer and visual artist, she builds stories from scratch and often illustrates the cover herself. She loves exploring old concepts under a new light. Her stories are character driven and diverse.

Reviews

[Alina (sylvandreams) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"No amount of scrubbing can wash away your sins!"
"We commit the same sins!"
"Nuh-huh. What I do is lay there and wait for them to be done. What you do involves rope and whips. I even saw a saddle in there!"

🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
you know what, i was perfectly ready to give this book less stars cause it feels so casually written, but i genuinely enjoyed it so much!! i ripped through it in three days. yeah there’s some anachronism, the ‘meh’ almost took me out of it. but it’s so cozy and the found family and the banter and the queer romance got me!! great fluffy story to turn off your brain to and just enjoy like a warm blanket and fresh cookies and milk. the girls are just so sweet!!! and the dream of being able to run away from your abuser and fix the lives of the people who gave you a new life?? just lovely

There was a knock at the door. "I don't want to interrupt your screaming, but it's your turn to make breakfast," said Siobhan.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these characters so much, and it let me indulge in my ultimate fantasy of having enough money at my disposal to improve public infrastructure.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this. i loved victoria, from escaping her husband to buying a brothel because people were kind to her for the first time in years to basically taking governance of the town. her relationship with natane was very sweet (they were so gone for each other) and the burgeoning realisation about her own sexuality was interesting to read (i liked the constant roaring in victoria's head whenever she had ~feelings~ she couldn't understand for natane. and god. their sex scenes). and then there's consuelo, lisette, and siobhan!! and all the other side characters who felt so real to me.

when she killed her husband by doing the cancan kick, i burst out laughing.

my only criticism was that they didn't do much with the doctor. this was such a weird people town but when a super weirdo shows up, we're given nothing. not even a little attempt to understand. i don't think there's even a conversation between him and any other character on page. but he's such a minor character this is a mere quibble.

[Glfzyenzwfcwsb · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely story

Worth the read, and the slow burn. So very good!

I couldn’t put it down, honestly. Will be on the lookout for more from the author.

[Sasha Wolf · Rating 3.25 out of 5]

Victoria escapes her abusive husband and is helped by the residents of a brothel. She reciprocates by buying the building so that they can't be turned out, and goes on to become an important figure in their town, as well as falling in love.

I love the premise of this novel, and it was refreshing to read a Western with a plethora of queer and non-white characters who are sympathetically drawn with a minimum of stereotyping.

However, unfortunately the story just didn't quite come together for me. I didn't feel like the characters had enough depth; I would have preferred fewer plot points and instead, more space given to each one. There were also some annoying anachronisms and inaccuracies, some of which the author acknowledges in her afterword and some of which are clearly just errors. I'm not someone with a high tolerance for creative liberties in my historical fiction, I'm afraid. Others may be less bothered, of course.