Even the title is disturbing: "The Virgin Cure" refers to the belief that deflowering a virgin could cure a man's disease, which, of course, in actuality simply passed on his affliction, usually a sexually transmitted one, to his next victim, a young girl who was often sold into the sex trade. This belief is still found, and the practice still goes on, in many places in the world, so it's sadly far from fiction.
The story surrounds a one of the characters in the author's later novel, but it explains her origins to a much greater degree. I admit, I liked the other one more, as I think there was a much more elaborate and engaging story line. This is primarily focused on the interpersonal relationships between the tragic characters at a rather upscale brothel, where the madam takes in young girls, as young as twelve, in the case of the protagonist, and grooms them to become high-dollar prostitutes. They're plucked off the streets by the girls themselves, and, if they make the grade, they're taken in to be "raised" in the company of others, in an almost-perversion of an "orphanage."
The novel is fairly descriptive of the stereotypical figures one would find in a major city in the late nineteenth century: from the slums of the ghettos, to exploitative slum lords and rent collectors, to the diverse and exotic group of inhabitants, each one with a seemingly tragic collections of reasons why they were unable to escape their grim fates and bleak surroundings, which include addiction, alcoholism, rampant abuse, abandonment and disability, to the wealthy upper crust, including lecherous husbands looking for a cheap thrill to abusive ladies who engage in an endless cycle of see-and-be-seen parade, to the doctor who attempts to help the down-on-their-luck "almost-whores" and tries to justify the reasons why she keeps going back.
I won't provide too many spoilers, but I will say that this was an at-times engaging, but often depressing portrait of the city; the later novel The Witches of New York, where the main character also features, was to me more enjoyable, although having this background was useful. It left several threads untied, however, making me wonder if there are future endeavors in the making!
The story surrounds a one of the characters in the author's later novel, but it explains her origins to a much greater degree. I admit, I liked the other one more, as I think there was a much more elaborate and engaging story line. This is primarily focused on the interpersonal relationships between the tragic characters at a rather upscale brothel, where the madam takes in young girls, as young as twelve, in the case of the protagonist, and grooms them to become high-dollar prostitutes. They're plucked off the streets by the girls themselves, and, if they make the grade, they're taken in to be "raised" in the company of others, in an almost-perversion of an "orphanage."
The novel is fairly descriptive of the stereotypical figures one would find in a major city in the late nineteenth century: from the slums of the ghettos, to exploitative slum lords and rent collectors, to the diverse and exotic group of inhabitants, each one with a seemingly tragic collections of reasons why they were unable to escape their grim fates and bleak surroundings, which include addiction, alcoholism, rampant abuse, abandonment and disability, to the wealthy upper crust, including lecherous husbands looking for a cheap thrill to abusive ladies who engage in an endless cycle of see-and-be-seen parade, to the doctor who attempts to help the down-on-their-luck "almost-whores" and tries to justify the reasons why she keeps going back.
I won't provide too many spoilers, but I will say that this was an at-times engaging, but often depressing portrait of the city; the later novel The Witches of New York, where the main character also features, was to me more enjoyable, although having this background was useful. It left several threads untied, however, making me wonder if there are future endeavors in the making!
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