In today’s
blog, I want to focus on another great Canadian author, Ami McKay. She has had two novels published so far: The
Birth House and The Virgin Cure. A third book, The Witches of New York, is scheduled to be released in October of
next year.
Brief
Description of The Birth House:
“The
Birth House is the story of Dora Rare, the first daughter to be born in
five generations of Rares. As a child in
an isolated village in Nova Scotia, she is drawn to Miss Babineau, an outspoken
Acadian midwife with a gift for healing. Dora becomes Miss B.’s apprentice, and
together they help the women of Scots Bay through infertility, difficult
labours, breech births, unwanted pregnancies and even unfulfilling sex lives. Filled with details as compelling as they are
surprising, The Birth House is an
unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to have control of their
own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern
medicine” (http://www.amazon.ca/Birth-House-Ami-McKay/dp/0676977731/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1445520045&sr=8-3&keywords=ami+mckay).
Review of The
Virgin Cure
4
Stars
The
protagonist is 12-year-old Moth who lives in the tenement slums of Manhattan's
Lower East Side in the early 1870s. Moth's mother, a gypsy fortune-teller,
sells her as a servant to Mrs. Wentworth, a wealthy but abusive woman. Because
of her mistreatment, Moth runs away and soon finds herself under the tutelage
of Miss Everett, the owner of an upscale brothel specializing in
prostitutes-in-training. Here Moth meets Dr. Sadie, an idealistic physician who
tends to prostitutes and the poor and tries to entice Moth away from Miss
Everett before her imminent, premature and possibly life-threatening
deflowering.
This book
includes vivid historical realism, especially in its depiction of misery and
poverty. There are several examples of Dickensian cruelty. Sidebars (e.g. Dr.
Sadie's notations, newspaper stories) are inserted throughout and they add to
the historical authenticity of the novel.
The book is
a powerful exploration of the issues facing women in that time period,
including the lack of options for women, especially poor women. The power
imbalance between the sexes is certainly emphasized. Unfortunately, the myth of
the virgin cure for syphilis endures in some parts of Africa as the virgin cure
for AIDS.
The one
weakness is that Moth seems rather innocent at times. She is streetwise but given
her hardscrabble existence, one would expect her to be more worldly. In her
training to be a prostitute, she isn't given any instructions about sexual
relations?
Readers who
enjoyed McKay's first novel will undoubtedly enjoy this book.
Preview of The
Witches of New York:
“To those
who say the world holds no more magic, are you certain of this? For this night,
within the candlelit walls of a room near Madison Square, three witches are
alive and well - one born of cunning, one born of ghosts, one born of wishes
yet to be fulfilled.
“Eleanor
St. Clair, Adelaide Thom and Beatrice Dunn have gathered to prepare for an
evening among Manhattan's elite. By divination, enchantment, spellcraft and
seduction, they'll carry out their work in the drawing room of a grand mansion
on Fifth Avenue. Without the aid of a medium's cabinet or false knocks on table
or wall, they'll peer into the future and call upon the dead. They have no need
for the trappings of Spiritualism. 'Ready or not, it's begun...'
“Compelling,
enchanting and utterly unique, The
Witches of New York invites you on a journey ranging from high society
Manhattan to the hidden voices of the budding suffragette movement, and on to
the web of secrets that connects them all” (http://www.amazon.ca/Witches-New-York-Ami-Mckay-ebook/dp/B00S3QAM06/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445520805&sr=1-1&keywords=the+witches+of+new+york).
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