Girl in the River — A Novel

A Woman Caught in the Whipsaw of History

Mae Rose, a high dollar hooker, icy and independent, has risen to the top of her game by sexually dominating the rich and powerful within the corrupt world of men who operate World War II era Portland to their own considerable advantage. She manages to juggle a District Attorney who is dangerously obsessed with her and two love affairs on the side until each demands an exclusive relationship at the very moment she becomes pregnant. She seeks an end to her pregnancy from the premier abortionist of the Pacific Northwest, the flamboyant Dr. Ruth Barnett. Her love life in tatters, she quits hooking to work for Ruth and patches things up with her one true love. All is well until the war ends, Dottie “Do-good” Lee is elected Portland’s first lady mayor on an anti-vice platform, and the political tides shift. Mae is nabbed in a police raid on Ruth Barnett’s abortion clinic, landing Mae back in the clutches of the DA, who is now uniquely positioned—if she refuses to service his sexual needs—to destroy her life.

Girl in the River is a portrait of the intimate lives of women during one of the most corrupt periods in Portland history. It’s an unflinching look at the power dynamics of sex; a glimpse into the work life of a call girl; an improbable love story; the tale of post-war assaults on reproductive rights; and a tribute to two remarkable and remarkably different women who shaped the lives of Portlanders during those tumultuous times: Dr. Ruth Barnett and Mayor Dorothy Lee.

Links to Interviews & Reviews

Cast of Characters

Dr. Ruth Barnett

Naturopathic doctor, premier abortionist of the Pacific Northwest and queen of Portland’s nightlife in the 1930’s, 40’s and into the 50’s. By her own estimate, Dr. Barnett performed some 40,000 therapeutic abortions over the three-plus decades of her practice. She never lost a patient. The law caught up to her less than six years before Roe v. Wade. At seventy-eight years old, she became the oldest woman ever to be incarcerated in the state of Oregon.
The Abortionist, a biography of Ruth Barnett by Rickie Solinger
They Weep on my Doorstep, Ruth Barnett’s autobiography with Doug Baker
Photo courtesy of The Oregonian
Rolla “Bud” Crick

Award-winning journalist for the Oregon Journal and later The Oregonian, whose idea it was to investigate the abortion trade in 1950. With the advent of Roe v. Wade, he softened his stance on abortion. Using a pen name, he became a prolific writer of true crime stories.
More about Bud:
Reporter Rolla J. 'Bud' Crick, eyewitness to a wide swath of history, dies at 95, a biography from The Oregonian
Photo courtesy of The Oregonian
Dorothy McCullough Lee

Lawyer, Oregon State Senator, Portland City Councilwoman, first woman mayor of Portland 1949-1953 and indefatigable anti-vice crusader. But she also supported housing reform, civil rights for African-Americans, better schools and bigger taxes on business. She ended her career in Washington DC pursuing Cold War era political dissidents.
More about Mayor Dottie “Do-good” Lee:
“Do-Good Dottie Cleans Up” by Meryl Lipman

Photo courtesy of Portland Archives and Records Center
Earl Riley

Mayor of Portland 1941-1949, inextricably involved with the rackets during his tenure and beyond. He was never brought to justice.
More about Mayor Riley in these books about crime and corruption:
“Portland Confidential” by Phil Stanford
“Portland on the Take” by JD Chandler and JB Fisher by Meryl Lipman
Terry Shrunk

Multnomah County Sheriff who conducted the raid on Ruth Barnett’s clinic in 1951 and mayor of Portland 1957-1973. Like many of his political contemporaries, he was linked to the Portland rackets, but the charges were never proved.
Photo courtesy of Stumptown Blogger and Oregon Historical Society
Al Winter

Owner of the Pago Pago and the Turf Club and kingpin of the Portland rackets in the 1940’s.
More about Al Winter in these books about crime and corruption:
“Portland Confidential” by Phil Stanford
“Portland on the Take” by JD Chandler and JB Fisher by Meryl Lipman
Photo courtesy of Phil Stanford and John Winter