Moth's life in the slums of New York City is harsh and, alone with her mother, both lonely and joyless. Set just post Civil-War, there few opportunities available for girls on the dirty streets of the Lower East Side. When Moth is left to fend for herself she manages to find her way to food, shelter and safety - but the price will be so hard to pay.
I chose this because I enjoy stories of early New York and it was on sale for a dollar on my Kindle - I didn't really read very closely what it was about and so I didn't know what to expect. Here's what I liked: the historical setting and the world that Moth lives in, I liked that I learned some things and whenever I Googled something, the author was spot on, so I felt like it was pretty historically accurate. I liked one of the secondary characters, a female doctor, a lot.
Do I LOVE to read books about prostitution, especially involving young girls? I don't so much, so people should know ahead of time that's much of the story. You'd THINK I'd have guessed it from the title but I just totally didn't even pay attention to that. Although it's not particularly graphic, it's still hard to read about such heartbreaking decisions and, truthfully, as much I felt sad for Moth, the writing style just didn't help me get completely attached to her. It's told with a lot of stops and starts as we have some journal entries from other characters and newspaper articles and advertisements. I liked the information and the overall flow of the story but the ending wrapped up really quickly with at least one serious loose end, I felt rushed out the door.
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