Description

<p>Everyone from housewives to politicians knew her simply as <i>Ada</i> — the renowned madam of Canada’s most notorious brothel at 51 Hollis Street in Halifax.<br><br>
For more than four decades, Ada Jane McCallum and the women known as <i>her girls</i> offered sex for sale to the local gentry and to thousands of sailors, soldiers, and merchant seamen from around the world as they passed through the port city.<br><br>
Although she operated an illicit business, Ada was respected and earned a reputation as one who protected and treated her employees well, dealt with her clients with discretion and respect, and cultivated a remarkably tolerant relationship with the powers that be. <br><br>
<i>Madam of the Maritimes</i> looks into McCallum’s entry into the bustling brothel business during the war years, her three short-lived marriages, and her challenges with the law and Revenue Canada. It provides a look at Ada as seen through the eyes of some who knew her – a prostitute who worked for her for five years, her Halifax hairdresser in the 1950s, a retired judge who sentenced her in his court, an adoring niece, a curious young reporter and an anonymous client. As Ada’s friend and Halifax journalist the late Doug Harkness once said, « She was part of our cultural life. »
This story is not about the legality or morality of prostitution. Instead, it is about a respected and generous woman of class and dignity who made a name for herself in the world?s oldest profession.</p>