# What book is this from?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-is-this-from/472411>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 12, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-is-this-from/472411 "2008-11-12T20:44:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-is-this-from/472411/1 "2008-11-12T20:44:25Z")

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I think it’s set in the 20s or 30s. There are 2 women in a bedroom and a man (one of the women’s boyfriends, maybe?) is hiding in a closet. One women gets the other one on the bed and proceeds to give her a VERY sexual massage. The man in the closet ends up masturbating and charging out of the closet as he orgasms. I can’t believe that this is the only scene I remember. Does anyone know what book this is? Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-is-this-from/472411/2 "2008-11-12T21:00:45Z")

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E. L. Doctorow’s _Ragtime_. If I recall, the masseuse was Emma Goldman.

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**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-is-this-from/472411/3 "2008-11-12T21:30:03Z")

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> [@Scissorjack](#):
>
> E. L. Doctorow’s _Ragtime_. If I recall, the masseuse was Emma Goldman.

And the massagee was Evelyn Nesbit: the novel is set in the first decade of the 20th Century, not the 20’s or 30’s: you may be misremembering the settings of Doctorow’s _Billy Bathgate_ or _World’s Fair_.

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**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-is-this-from/472411/4 "2008-11-12T21:50:55Z")

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You, know, I was thinking that might’ve been it. Thanks!