Summary

Moth, abandoned by her father and raised by her hard-scrabble, fortune-telling mother, roams the mean streets of New York City in 1871 dreaming of a better life than that of the tenement slum where she lives. When she turns 12, her mother sells her as a servant to a wealthy, demanding –and, as Moth soon learns, brutally cruel – woman, Mrs. Wentworth. With the help of another servant, Moth breaks free only to land on the streets again, this time totally alone and homeless. A chance meeting leads to a tentative friendship with Dr. Sadie, a ground-breaking female physician who tends to the poor and desperate. McKay’s vivid descriptions make the novel come to life as the reader inhabits the bawdy Bowery district and filthy streets of NYC, as well as the sumptuous concert halls and brothels. Dr. Sadie is based on the author’s own great-great grandmother. The title comes from the myth of the time that deflowering a virgin would cure a man of deadly syphilis. Sprinkled throughout the novel are snippets from newspapers, journals and periodicals of the era, providing a glimpse into the lives of both the privileged and the down-trodden. Tags: historical fiction, Canadian Reviewed by DC.