Book Review: The Curse of Maiden Scars

Reviewed by Samantha Hui

Alluring. Devastating. Thrilling.

Can the hysterics of women really match the violence of men?

Nicolette Croft’s The Curse of Maiden Scars is an engaging and necessary novel examining the unfavorable regard for women in the 18th century. Following topics like prostitution, hysteria, and slavery, the story adeptly illustrates the past practices of conflating physical and mental ailments with moral failing. 

Through the eyes of a precocious, headstrong young woman, audiences will see how difficult the mere pursuit of safety and love can be, when the systems in place present some people as laboring bodies or objects. 

“I saw her in a new light. She no longer hid bitterness and malice. Instead, she was a petite bird protecting her delicate gifts, open only to those who would appreciate her beauty.”

As a sickly sixteen year-old orphan looking to earn her keep, Renna roams the streets of 18th century Yorkshire seeking out desperate men to introduce to the ladies at the brothel. When a couple of men take interest in Renna and pursue their ulterior motives, she is set on a series of traumatic assignments and travels. 

Having gained an education and been taught to read by an indecent priest, Renna is precocious yet deeply hopeful to one day find the love and success that girls like her are hardly ever granted. From Yorkshire to Harewood to Venice, Renna moves up the ranks from street rat to maid to courtesan. With each transition, the hope for a better life becomes tainted and strained. 

“I believe we all share a bond of survival. But not everyone understands that surviving frightening and often unclean events is a virtue. Rather, they see it as a fungus contaminating the ripe and healthy.”

The novel begins with Gothic themes of repression, the supernatural, and the grotesque. Renna catches a morbid glimpse of a crazed yet familiar young girl in the local asylum. She fears the asylum yet she’s drawn to learn more about this girl who shares similar looking scars to the ones that streak down Renna’s back. 

As Renna pursues love from deceptive men and dodges jealous harassment from cunning women through the story, she is also on a mission to learn about her family that exists in the past so that she can learn what future she has in store. 

“No one told me the origin of my scars. Knowing another might bear the same unforgettable disfigurement both sickened and comforted me.”

Each chapter begins with archetypes of the central figures that Renna encounters. For example, the Priest archetype’s light attribute is “serving spiritual commitments” while the shadow attribute is “being seduced by the spiritual role.” Father Thaddeus is a harmful priest who forces innocent women into asylums because he believes them to be filled with sin. He truly believes that outward scars are a result of inward vice; in his pursuit of virtue, he has become someone abusive and convinced of his own preconceptions. The characters through the book are rarely entirely good or entirely evil; oftentimes, we are not aware of their intentions. 

Renna is fiery and adaptive but ultimately naive. She is more educated than her peers due to being taught how to read, but her desire for knowledge and greatness create an angst within her that blinds her to people’s hidden intentions. Readers will sympathize with Renna for her hopeful youth and admire her for her persistence in a society that aims at tearing down women. 

“I’d never dreamed of a grand ancestry. Still, I longed to be the daughter of a respectable working-class couple who sewed their family together with Christmas traditions and family dinners.”

This powerful story links the past and future in multiple ways: The plot follows Renna as she searches for the truth of her family history while pursuing an unpromised future; the themes of the book regard a fictional yet historical view of the plight of women in the 18th century and reminds present day readers of what once was and what we can shape our futures to be. 

Thank you for reading Samantha Hui’s book review of The Curse of Maiden Scars by Nicolette Croft! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.

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