SO HAPPY to see someone recommend this spectacular book! It's 800 pages of breathless wonder.
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. It's a fantastic Dickensian novel about two Victorian women: a childlike, rich wife, and a worldly young prostitute.
The Crimson Petal and the White. Katie Holmes was seen with it at the airport in 2002. She was drinking a vanilla latte.