Book Description

Growing up during the Depression and forced to live in coal mining camps throughout Appalachia, Virgie Hopkins is subjected to child molestation, the KKK, murder, homelessness, starvation, and ridicule for being the daughter of the town whore.Virgie grows up hating her mother who was taken away when she was nine years old and while she was gone, she and her brother were put into foster care, starved, and abused.When her mother returned, she did not know her husband or her children and Virgie could not understand why she had changed.At 16, Virgie made the decision to leave Kentucky and the only life she had ever known after discovering her prostitute mother was having an affair with the young boy Virgie loved.Filled with hatred, resentment, and shame for the woman she called Mom, it was not until her mother's funeral, did she learn the horrible truth, the reason for her change and the reason why she became the town whore, a weedmonkey.A haunting true story...Special note about Weedmonkey from the author: "My mother Victoria started writing this book when I was a little girl and the recollection is from her memory of her childhood. In 2006, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given three months to live. I was not only heartbroken because my mother was dying, but because her dream of writing the book was dying with her. On her deathbed, she asked me to finish writing it for her. I hope I've made her proud."