Beautiful, proud Roxana is terrified of being poor. When her foolish husband leaves her penniless with five children, she must choose between being a virtuous beggar or a rich whore. A vivid satire on a dissolute society, this book presents a psychologically acute evocation of the ways in which vani...

Beautiful, proud Roxana is terrified of being poor. When her foolish husband leaves her penniless with five children, she must choose between being a virtuous beggar or a rich whore. A vivid satire on a dissolute society, this book presents a psychologically acute evocation of the ways in which vanity and ambition can corrupt the human soul.