
I am Moth a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street born to a slum-house mystic & the man who broke her heart. So begins THE VIRGIN CURE a novel set in the tenements of lower Manhattan in 1871. As a young child Moths father smiled tipped his hat & walked away from her for ever. The summer she turned twelve her mother sold her as a servant to a wealthy woman 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 & prostitutes where eventually she meets Miss Everett the owner of a brothel. Miss Everett caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for companions & the most desirable of them all are young virgins like Moth. Through the friendship of Dr Sadie a female physician Moth learns to question & observe the world around her where her new friends are falling prey to the myth of the virgin cure to heal the incurable & tainted. She knows the law will not protect her that polite society ignores her & still she dreams of answering to no one but herself. Theres a high price for such independence though & no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street...