The Virgin Cure: A Novel

From #1 international bestselling author Ami McKay comes The Virgin Cure, the story of a young girl abandoned and forced to fend for herself in the poverty and treachery of post-Civil War New York City.

McKay, whose debut novel The Birth House made headlines around the world, returns with a resonant tale inspired by her own great-great-grandmother’s experiences as a pioneer of women’s medicine in nineteenth-century New York.

In a powerful novel that recalls the evocative fiction Anita Shreve, Annie Proulx, and Joanne Harris, Ami McKay brings to light the story of early, forward-thinking social warriors, creating a narrative that readers will find inspiring, poignant, adventure-filled, and utterly unforgettable.

From the author of the number one Canadian bestseller The Birth House comes the story of a young girl abandoned to the streets of post-Civil War New York City.

"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."

Set on the streets of Lower Manhattan in 1871, The Virgin Cure is the story of Moth, a girl abandoned by her father and raised by a mother telling fortunes to the city's desperate women. One summer night, twelve-year-old Moth is pulled from her bed and sold as a servant to a finely dressed woman. It is this betrayal suffered at the hands of her own mother that changes her life forever.

Knowing that her mother is so close while she is locked away in servitude, Moth bides her time until she can escape, only to find her old home deserted and her mother gone without a trace. Moth must struggle to survive alone in the murky world of the Bowery, a wild and lawless enclave filled with thieves, beggars, sideshow freaks, and prostitutes. She eventually meets Miss Everett, the proprietress of an "Infant School," a brothel that caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for "willing and clean" companions—desirable young virgins like Moth.

Moth also finds friendship with Dr. Sadie, a female physician struggling against the powerful forces of injustice, who teaches Moth to question and observe the world around her. The doctor hopes to protect Moth from falling prey to a terrible myth known as the "virgin cure"—the tragic belief that deflowering a "fresh maid" can cleanse the blood and heal men afflicted with syphilis—that has destroyed the lives of other Bowery girls.

Ignored by society, unprotected by the law, Moth dreams of independence. But there's a high price to pay for freedom, and no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street.

“Strongly delineated characters and a vivid historical backdrop. ” - Kirkus Reviews

“A powerful novel. . . including a vivid historical realism and compelling, well-drawn characters. . . . One of McKay’s gifts and skills as a writer is her ability to utterly immerse the reader in her fictional world.” - National Post (Canada)

“This is 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. - Vancouver Sun

“A finely crafted and remarkably researched tale.” - The Walrus (Canada)

“So well researched is this novel, so deep does it take readers into the dark and desperate life of Lower Manhattan that it is easy to believe it was written 150 years ago as a treatise decrying the fate that awaited so many impoverished young girls. . . . The novel is an immersive coming-of-age story, unnerving and powerful.” - Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers

“McKay captures the era’s atmosphere in such crisply rendered details as the glow of a gas lamp, or the nicknames of the street toughs. . . . Thought provoking and beautifully rendered, THE VIRGIN CURE explores both the horrors people are capable of inflicting and the dignity that can accrue to those who oppose them.” - Booklist