My Notorious Life

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Exquisitely written and richly detailed, this novel is a marvel. Kate Manning's rags-to-riches saga vividly portrays nineteenth-century New York City, showcasing both its squalor and opulence. The story introduces Axie Muldoon, a fiery heroine whose journey begins on the streets of 1860s New York as the impoverished child of Irish immigrants. She rises to become one of the wealthiest and most controversial women of her time. In vivid prose, Axie recounts her forced separation from her family, her apprenticeship to a doctor, and how she and her husband transform the sale of "Lunar Tablets for Female Complaint" into a thriving midwifery business. Defying convention and the law in the name of women's reproductive rights, Axie ascends from grim tenements to a Fifth Avenue mansion, accumulating wealth while learning to distrust men who say "trust me." As her services attract scandalous headlines, Axie faces off against Anthony Comstock, founder of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. It takes all her cunning to outsmart him and protect her freedom. Inspired by the true history of an infamous female physician dubbed "the Wickedest Woman in New York," this narrative is a mystery, family saga, and love story, offering a detailed portrait of nineteenth-century America through Axie's haunting and enlightening voice.