Book-of-the-Month® Club And Harper Collins Announce National Blue Ribbon Honors For The Virgin Cure By Ami McKay

NEW YORK, July 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Book-of-the-Month® Club (BOMC) and Harper Collins are pleased to announce The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay has received the coveted National Blue Ribbon honor which recognizes a fresh, new voice in literature that deserves special attention. This moving story centers on Moth, a twelve-year-old girl from the slums of the Lower East Side of Manhattan trying to survive after being abandoned by her father and sold into servitude by her mother. Her spunk, fierce determination and resiliency will capture your heart and leave you feeling proud and grateful for the strength of girls and women of the past. 

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120719/NY42649)

"I'm thrilled to have The Virgin Cure chosen as a National Blue Ribbon selection," said 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.

PREVIOUS NATIONAL BLUE RIBBON SELECTIONS ARE:
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
Highest Duty by Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger
Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows 

Founded in 1926 by Harry Scherman, Book-of-the-Month® Club is an iconic American brand, trusted and respected by book enthusiasts around the world.  Over the years, BOMC has helped launch the careers of such bestselling authors as Pearl S. Buck, Herman Wouk, George Orwell, David McCullough, Stephen King and Tom Clancy.  Book-of-the-Month® Club discovers the finest in literature, history, current affairs, health, and lifestyle for our members, chosen by club editors who unearth these gems from thousands of yearly submissions. Visit Book-of-the Month Club at www.bomcclub.com.  Book-of-the-Month is operated by Direct Brands' affiliate Bookspan. Direct Brands is also home to Doubleday Book Club®, The Literary Guild® and Columbia House®.

About The National Blue Ribbon Program: The distinguished editors who choose the National Blue Ribbon titles bring a combined 70 years of expertise in selecting books that entertain book-loving audiences.  They are: Sharon Fantera, SVP, Editorial Director, Direct Brands, Deborah Sinclaire, Editor-in-Chief, Book-of-the-Month Club®, Catherine Wallach, Editor, Book-of-the-Month Club®, Christine Zika, Editor-in-Chief, The Literary Guild® and Jennifer Hufford, Editor-in-Chief, Doubleday Book Club®.

About HarperCollins Publishers
HarperCollins, one of the largest English-language publishers in the world, is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV). Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing groups around the world including the HarperCollins General Books Group, HarperCollins Children's Books Group, Zondervan, HarperCollins UK, HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Australia/New Zealand and HarperCollins India. HarperCollins is a broad-based publisher with strengths in literary and commercial fiction, business books, children's books, cookbooks, mystery, romance, reference, religious and spiritual books. With nearly 200 years of history HarperCollins has published some of the world's foremost authors and has won numerous awards including the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, the Newbery Medal and the Caldecott. Consistently at the forefront of innovation and technological advancement HarperCollins is the first publisher to digitize its content and create a global digital warehouse to protect the rights of its authors, meet consumer demand and generate additional business opportunities. You can visit HarperCollins Publishers on the Internet at http://www.harpercollins.com.

About the book: 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.

About the author: Ami McKay is the author of the number one Canadian bestseller The Birth House, the winner of three Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Awards and a nominee for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her work has aired on various Canadian radio programs, and her documentary, Daughter of Family G, won an Excellence in Journalism Medallion at the 2003 Atlantic Journalism Awards.

SOURCE Book-of-the-Month(R) Club