Helpful Score: 5
3.0 out of 5 stars - Started out strong
I've let my thoughts on this simmer overnight because I ended up sort of disappointed in this novel though I was quiet enthralled at the beginning. A young girl from the Chrystie street tenements is sold into service by her Gypsy mother and eventually is turned out onto the mean streets of Lower Manhattan in 1871 and left to fend for herself. Moth, named by a father who abandoned his family, finds short term sanctuary of sorts in an "Infant School" where Miss Everett sells young virgins to wealthy gentlemen. During this period of indoctrination into the brothel life, Moth meets a woman physician who hopes to rescue Moth and others like her from the lifestyle she has chosen. There's a small bit about the "virgin cure" and a plot point involving that myth, not much else of the book has to do with that.
I really liked the middle part of the story and the historical asides, but then it became predictable and not very satisfying. Of course the poor slum girl has an unnatural beauty and of course ...well, does she manage to overcome all the obstacles of her place of birth and lack of social status to rise above it all and finally gain some freedom from illness and poverty on Chrystie Street??
I really like historical fiction and I did like the inclusion of period information although it seemed a bit oddly placed on the pages at times. I could have done without some of the beginning chapter quotes, especially the song lyrics. I'd recommend it if you're a reader interested in the health and welfare of women and children during the 1870s.
I've let my thoughts on this simmer overnight because I ended up sort of disappointed in this novel though I was quiet enthralled at the beginning. A young girl from the Chrystie street tenements is sold into service by her Gypsy mother and eventually is turned out onto the mean streets of Lower Manhattan in 1871 and left to fend for herself. Moth, named by a father who abandoned his family, finds short term sanctuary of sorts in an "Infant School" where Miss Everett sells young virgins to wealthy gentlemen. During this period of indoctrination into the brothel life, Moth meets a woman physician who hopes to rescue Moth and others like her from the lifestyle she has chosen. There's a small bit about the "virgin cure" and a plot point involving that myth, not much else of the book has to do with that.
I really liked the middle part of the story and the historical asides, but then it became predictable and not very satisfying. Of course the poor slum girl has an unnatural beauty and of course ...well, does she manage to overcome all the obstacles of her place of birth and lack of social status to rise above it all and finally gain some freedom from illness and poverty on Chrystie Street??
I really like historical fiction and I did like the inclusion of period information although it seemed a bit oddly placed on the pages at times. I could have done without some of the beginning chapter quotes, especially the song lyrics. I'd recommend it if you're a reader interested in the health and welfare of women and children during the 1870s.
