The Virgin Cure: A Novel

Anyone interested in the struggles of city life in the mid to late 1800s would enjoy reading this well-researched novel. This book was well-written, informative and enjoyable until near the end. Suddenly it was as if someone had said to the author, “Time is up, please end your story now and turn in your book.” At which point the author scrawled a quick ending and closed the book. It was so jarring, I literally went back to see if I had missed a chapter. I would have given the book a 4-star rating if the ending hadn’t been so disappointing.

Ami McKay's novel, "The Virgin Cure," is a story of poverty and its crushing weight on hundreds of thousands of people in Manhattan during the 1870's. Miss Moth Fenwick of Christie Street in the Bowery, the city's most deprived neighborhood where there is never enough of anything, shelter, food, or heat. Moth's mother eke's out an existence begging, stealing, prostitution, and telling fortunes. A gypsy, their ethnicity is important to the daughter as she grows.The young girl's life receives still another knock when, at age 12, her mother sells her as a servant to a rich woman. The girl's elation at having food and shelter, not to mention decent clothing, is short lived when her mistress turns out to be a sadist who takes out her own misery with a philandering husband on her servant. Finally, in desperation, Moth runs away, only to find out her mother has moved - and she can only make her own way on the streets, begging and stealing. Next, she meets another young woman who takes her to the house where she lives, a brothel owned by a woman who shelters young girls in order to sell them as virgins. After learning the manners and skills of deportment expected of proper young ladies, Moth is finally repelled at the sexuality expected as the price of her luxurious new life. Once more she runs away, this time to a safe house owned by a humane woman physician.Although the plot of author McKay's novel is engaging and credible, it is the rich portrait of 19th century life in America's largest city with overwhelming poverty. The author's details of the period, transportation, the homes of the impoverished as well as their wealthy employers let's us leave the scenes as though we had actually been there while the drama unfolded. To add to the credibility, the author inserts topical sidebars, often dated, which reinforce the historical situations of the fiction. Of particular note in "The Virgin Cure", too, is the skill with which author McKay handles first person prose which can be monotonous in lesser hands. Not an easy task, her descriptions and dialogue were smooth, slick, and fast paced.For a book that does for New York what Charles Dickens did for London, I recommend Ami McKay's "The Virgin Cure" as an important reading experience.

It's a wonderful to start a book and know from the first page that it will be wonderful.It was a story about the hardship poor people in New York endured in the 19th century. It was especially hard for young girls. Little Moth was a burden for her poor mother who sold her to a wealthy woman as a servant. The little girl waited on the woman who due to mental illness, tortured her. The butler helped the girl escape after getting her to steal two pieces of jewelry.The young was out on the street begging for a few pennies to eat. She was prey to an evil man, but managed to escape. A well dressed young woman found her and took her to the madam of an establishment that provided young virgins to men willing to pay.As horrible as that sounds, the girl for the first time in her life had a warm, clean bed, good food and nice clothes. She was willing to do whatever she had to do rather than go to an orphan home.The rest of the story describes how she used her common sense, wits and ingenuity to improve her life, in spite of her early suffering.I loved this story and also loved The Witches of New York. I highly recommend it.

This was another amazing book by Ami McKay that I highly recommend. It is a story seen through the eyes of the main character Moth, a street urchin turned "almost whore," whose mother sold her into service as a lady's maid. The year is 1870 and the place is the Lower East Side of New York where there were few options for women in general but none at all for the poor, so when Moth's mistress abused and beat her, she had no choice but to run away. She looked for her mother but never found her thus ended up living on the streets for a short time. Upon the advice of another young woman, Mae, Moth became a trainee under the tutelage of Miss Everett who prepared her to be a prostitute. Moth was rescued by Dr. Sadie, a physician at the Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children who literally took her in from the streets. The title refers to the myth that a man could be cured of syphilis if he deflowered a virgin which is basically what Miss Everett was preparing the girls for in her "school."The book is based upon well researched facts and upon the character of the author's great great grandmother, a physician who worked with a small team of other female doctors (rare at the time) caring for the more than 30,000 children living on the streets of New York in 1870.This is a beautiful book with believable characters that I cared for and worried about. It is another winner from a wonderful author.

This book came highly recommended on a review site so I felt it was worth the investment. Other reviewers are right in that the book takes ages to get going and that the idea of the girl surviving as she does is stretching the imagination a little too far but it is entertaining and is a quick read. I loved the layout with sidelines and quotes from newspapers and books, they linked the story and added depth to the events of the narrative. As far as it being a good book for a winter's evening then it works but it is a little saccharine and 'clean' for subject matter.

A great protagonist and a slow-burning plot that carries you along every page.The climax brings together all the threads very satisfyingly.

Story and characters are full of mystery and wanted to read quickly to find out what happens. Love the history and want to read more on the story of Moth.

I purchased this book for myself on the recommendation of my sister. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it met my expectation.

Read this book last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Subject matter is quite disturbing but the narrative voices are well crafted and convincing.