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Review
“Finely crafted and remarkably researched.... While set in the past, the book informs the modern dialogue on feminism, the sex trade, and choice.”
—Stacey May Fowles, The Walrus
“A worthy follow up to...The Birth House.... Character, setting, mood and plot are melded naturally to create a Dickensian world of deprivation and determination.”
—Winnipeg Free Press
“A powerful novel, rooted in the same elements that made The Birth House both critically lauded and a bestseller.... One of McKay’s gifts and skills as a writer is her ability to utterly immerse the reader in her fictional world.... A powerful, affecting novel.”
—Robert J. Wiersema, National Post
“Fans of McKay’s bestselling novel The Birth House are going to love The Virgin Cure.... McKay’s vivid prose can trigger in readers the taste of a hot bowl of oyster stew, the reek of Chrystie Street tenement houses and the sound of a taffeta skirt’s hem brushing the floor of a concert saloon.... It’s difficult not to swiftly turn the pages of The Virgin Cure.”
—Maclean’s
“A lovely novel, written in a style that is both clean and subtle. McKay’s voices are true; her characters sympathetic.... I’m certain readers will take to The Virgin Cure just as they did The Birth House.”
—The Vancouver Sun
“A powerful new voice in Canadian writing.”
—Marjorie Anderson
“McKay is clearly a talented writer with a subtle sense of story, one that readers will look forward to hearing from, again and again.”
—The Gazette
“McKay is such a wonderful storyteller with a strong sense of place and time.”
—Library Journal
—Stacey May Fowles, The Walrus
“A worthy follow up to...The Birth House.... Character, setting, mood and plot are melded naturally to create a Dickensian world of deprivation and determination.”
—Winnipeg Free Press
“A powerful novel, rooted in the same elements that made The Birth House both critically lauded and a bestseller.... One of McKay’s gifts and skills as a writer is her ability to utterly immerse the reader in her fictional world.... A powerful, affecting novel.”
—Robert J. Wiersema, National Post
“Fans of McKay’s bestselling novel The Birth House are going to love The Virgin Cure.... McKay’s vivid prose can trigger in readers the taste of a hot bowl of oyster stew, the reek of Chrystie Street tenement houses and the sound of a taffeta skirt’s hem brushing the floor of a concert saloon.... It’s difficult not to swiftly turn the pages of The Virgin Cure.”
—Maclean’s
“A lovely novel, written in a style that is both clean and subtle. McKay’s voices are true; her characters sympathetic.... I’m certain readers will take to The Virgin Cure just as they did The Birth House.”
—The Vancouver Sun
“A powerful new voice in Canadian writing.”
—Marjorie Anderson
“McKay is clearly a talented writer with a subtle sense of story, one that readers will look forward to hearing from, again and again.”
—The Gazette
“McKay is such a wonderful storyteller with a strong sense of place and time.”
—Library Journal
Book Description
Following in the footsteps of The Birth House, her powerful debut novel, The Virgin Cure secures Ami McKay's place as one of our most beguiling storytellers. (Not that it has to… that is pretty much taken care of!)
"I am Moth, a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart." So begins The Virgin Cure, a novel set in the tenements of lower Manhattan in the year 1871. As a young child, Moth's father smiled, tipped his hat and walked away from his wife and daughter forever, and Moth has never stopped imagining that one day they may be reunited – despite knowing in her heart what he chose over them. Her hard mother is barely making a living with her fortune-telling, sometimes for well-heeled clients, yet Moth is all too aware of how she really pays the rent.
Life would be so much better, Moth knows, if fortune had gone the other way - if only she'd had the luxury of a good family and some station in life. The young Moth spends her days wandering the streets of her own and better neighbourhoods, imagining what days are like for the wealthy women whose grand yet forbidding gardens she slips through when no one's looking. Yet every night Moth must return to the disease- and grief-ridden tenements she calls home.
The summer Moth turns twelve, her mother puts a halt to her explorations by selling her boots to a local vendor, convinced that Moth was planning to run away. Wanting to make the most of her every asset, she also sells Moth to a wealthy woman as a servant, with no intention of ever seeing her again.
These betrayals lead Moth to the wild, murky world of the Bowery, filled with house-thieves, pickpockets, beggars, sideshow freaks and prostitutes, but also a locale frequented by New York's social elite. Their patronage supports the shadowy undersphere, where businesses can flourish if they truly understand the importance of wealth and social standing - and of keeping secrets. In that world Moth meets Miss Everett, the owner of a brothel simply known as an "infant school." There Moth finds the orderly solace she has always wanted, and begins to imagine herself embarking upon a new path.
Yet salvation does not come without its price: Miss Everett caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for companions who are "willing and clean," and the most desirable of them all are young virgins like Moth. That's not the worst of the situation, though. In a time and place where mysterious illnesses ravage those who haven't been cautious, no matter their social station, diseased men yearn for a "virgin cure" - thinking that deflowering a "fresh maid" can heal the incurable and tainted.
Through the friendship of Dr. Sadie, a female physician who works to help young women like her, Moth learns to question and observe the world around her. Moth's new friends are falling prey to fates both expected and forced upon them, yet she knows the law will not protect her, and that polite society ignores her. Still she dreams of answering to no one but herself. There's a high price for such independence, though, and no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street.
"I am Moth, a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart." So begins The Virgin Cure, a novel set in the tenements of lower Manhattan in the year 1871. As a young child, Moth's father smiled, tipped his hat and walked away from his wife and daughter forever, and Moth has never stopped imagining that one day they may be reunited – despite knowing in her heart what he chose over them. Her hard mother is barely making a living with her fortune-telling, sometimes for well-heeled clients, yet Moth is all too aware of how she really pays the rent.
Life would be so much better, Moth knows, if fortune had gone the other way - if only she'd had the luxury of a good family and some station in life. The young Moth spends her days wandering the streets of her own and better neighbourhoods, imagining what days are like for the wealthy women whose grand yet forbidding gardens she slips through when no one's looking. Yet every night Moth must return to the disease- and grief-ridden tenements she calls home.
The summer Moth turns twelve, her mother puts a halt to her explorations by selling her boots to a local vendor, convinced that Moth was planning to run away. Wanting to make the most of her every asset, she also sells Moth to a wealthy woman as a servant, with no intention of ever seeing her again.
These betrayals lead Moth to the wild, murky world of the Bowery, filled with house-thieves, pickpockets, beggars, sideshow freaks and prostitutes, but also a locale frequented by New York's social elite. Their patronage supports the shadowy undersphere, where businesses can flourish if they truly understand the importance of wealth and social standing - and of keeping secrets. In that world Moth meets Miss Everett, the owner of a brothel simply known as an "infant school." There Moth finds the orderly solace she has always wanted, and begins to imagine herself embarking upon a new path.
Yet salvation does not come without its price: Miss Everett caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for companions who are "willing and clean," and the most desirable of them all are young virgins like Moth. That's not the worst of the situation, though. In a time and place where mysterious illnesses ravage those who haven't been cautious, no matter their social station, diseased men yearn for a "virgin cure" - thinking that deflowering a "fresh maid" can heal the incurable and tainted.
Through the friendship of Dr. Sadie, a female physician who works to help young women like her, Moth learns to question and observe the world around her. Moth's new friends are falling prey to fates both expected and forced upon them, yet she knows the law will not protect her, and that polite society ignores her. Still she dreams of answering to no one but herself. There's a high price for such independence, though, and no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street.
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Most helpful customer reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Six stars if I could!,
By
This review is from: The Virgin Cure (Hardcover)
Ami McKay's first novel The Birth House was a phenomenal success. I have no doubt that her newly released second novel - The Virgin Cure - will also be bestseller. And, it's one of my favourite reads for 2011.I was hooked from the opening line..."I am Moth, a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart." And so begins the story of Moth, born into the slums of Manhattan in New York City. In 1871 Moth's mother sells her - to a wealthy woman looking for a young servant. When that situation becomes untenable, Moth runs away and finds herself alone on the streets with no prospects. Until the owner of a brothel in the Bowery that 'caters to men looking for young companions who are 'willing and clean' takes her in. In Miss Everett's "Infant School", the most desirous of all are virgins, for it is said that a virgin can cure a man of that most scurrilous of diseases - syphilis. One bright light in Moth's life is Doctor Sadie, one of the first female physicians in New York City, who attends the girls at Miss Everett's establishment. The idea for the Virgin Cure was based on McKay's search into her own roots. Her great-great grandmother was a physician in New York City. What did I love so much about this book? Well, everything! McKay's characterizations are rich, detailed and believable. I became so invested in Moth and Dr. Sadie, sharing their fears and dreams. Both of these characters are strong, strong female leads, staying true to themselves despite the obstacles put before them. The setting is just as much of a player in the novel. McKay's depiction of 1870's New York conjured up vivid scenes crackling with detail. McKay includes historical side notes, newspaper articles, pictures and more throughout the book. I found myself on the Internet many times following up with the history she presented. Ultimately - it's a book that is so engrossing, so readable, so fascinating that I wish I could give it six stars. I just can't seem to articulate what a great read this is from such a skilled Canadian story teller. Highly, highly recommended!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful and unique read!,
By
This review is from: The Virgin Cure (Hardcover)
Where do I even begin with this review of Ami McKay's latest novel, The Virgin Cure? I had eyed this book many times both in book stores and online, but finally got hold of it by winning a Twitter contest by Random House of Canada. Excited to finally have a book by Ami McKay, a wonderful Canadian author, I realized that I had no clue what the novel was even about. I was initially drawn in by the odd name and the beautiful cover. I did not expect the novel to be what it was about and I really didn't think that I would enjoy the subject matter so much!The Virgin Cure is about a young girl named Moth who is growing up in the slums of New York in the 1800's. When Moth is 12 years old, her mother sells her to be a servent for a wealthy woman. From that point on, Moth's life is nothing like she dreamed it would be ' as she goes from being a slave to being one of the young girls men seek out while looking for the 'virgin cure.' The whole time I was reading this novel, I couldn't believe how the young girls were treated. In fact, the very notion that one could sell their child in order to make a pretty penny seemed unthinkable to me, but I had to get over myself and realize that things like this did happen in the past (and probably still happen in some parts of the world, though I claim ignorance to that. In fact, it seems that there are many parts of the world where children are forced to do things that are well beyond their years and I can only be thankful that I was not raised in those kinds of places.). Throughout the novel, the reader witnesses Moth's youth and naïveté ' a young girl who is still so innocent, but wise beyond her years, just looking to be loved. I adored Moth's character and felt for her every time she felt up, and felt her sorrow every time she was down. She was willing to work for what she wanted, even if that included doing things that seemed far beyond her character. I also really enjoyed Dr. Sadie's character and how she wanted to save the young girls forced into such wrongness. McKay is a wonderful writer. Not only is her writing beautiful and accessible, but she peppered tidbits of information about the time period throughout the novel. Not only did I get the satisfaction of reading such a unique novel, but I also learned something as I read. My only problem with these tidbits of information, however, was that I didn't know when to read them. McKay places them in the story as sidebars, but there was no indication as to when the reader's eyes should leave the paragraph and read the sidebar. If you're looking for a wonderful, unique read by a great Canadian author, give The Virgin Cure a read. It's a fast-paced, heartfelt, yet serious and sad read, and I can't help but recommend it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great story bound to be made into a movie,
By
This review is from: The Virgin Cure (Hardcover)
Having loved Amy McKay's first novel, The Birth House, I had my fingers crossed that The Virgin Cure would not disappoint. And it did not. Set in the poorest neighbourhoods of New York City in the 1870s, McKay creates wonderful Dickensian characters. From the girl protagonist Moth and her fortune-telling mother, to Dr. Sadie, an independent woman who defies the conventions of the period, McKay creates characters who are rich and vivid. While the plot was, at some points, quite predictable, McKay's addition of historical sidebar anecdotes from the period more than make up for this weakness. The story is ripe for a screen adaptation.
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