Ami McKay’s The Virgin Cure has been awarded the National Blue Ribbon honor by the Book-of-the-Month® Club and Harper Collins. The coveted award is given to “a fresh, new voice in literature that deserves special attention.”
 
“I’m thrilled to have The Virgin Cure chosen as a National Blue Ribbon selection,” stated Ami McKay. “The book clubs have long been a part of my family’s reading life. My grandmother, a faithful member of BOMC, never gave up her membership, even when her eyesight began to fail. Whenever a new book would arrive on her doorstep, she’d call me to her house for tea and ‘reading time.’ It was in those moments, reading each page aloud to her that I first knew I wanted to become a writer. Thank you for putting The Virgin Cure on your National Blue Ribbon bookshelf. It’s truly an honor.”
 
“I am delighted that The Virgin Cure has been selected as a National Blue Ribbon Book by BOMC. Ami McKay has written a stunning, historically rich novel of nineteenth-century New York City, inspired in part by her own great-great-grandmother’s pioneering career in women’s medicine at that time. It’s an honor for me, as Ami’s editor, to share her remarkable work with you and to see The Virgin Cure embraced by BOMC. I hope you will enjoy reading this beautiful novel as much as I have.” – Claire Wachtel, Senior VP/Executive Editor, Harper Collins.
 
McKay joins a list of National Blue Ribbon winners that includes The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Septys, Juliet by Anne Fortier, Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok, The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom, and The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
 
The Plot of The Virgin Cure:
 
“The Virgin Cure is the story of Moth Fenwick, a twelve-year-old girl who struggles to stay alive in 1871 Manhattan after being abandoned by her father and sold into servitude by her mother. Her only chance at survival is working at an ‘Infant School’, a brothel catering to men who pay dearly for virgin girls. But when Moth meets the brothel’s female physician, Dr. Sadie, she begins to question the sordid world around her. With Dr. Sadie’s guidance, Moth discovers there’s hope for a life outside of the brothel and the very real possibility of finding the kind of world she’s always longed for. Ignored by society, unprotected by the law, Moth dreams of a better future. But, there’s a high price to pay for freedom, and no one knows that better than a girl from Gotham’s gritty streets.”
 
Source: Book-of-the-Month(R) Club