Bust-length portrait in profile of Maria Monk., In The American phrenological journal, vol. 11 (July, 1849), p. 314., Maria Monk, supposed author of Awful disclosures of Maria Monk, or, the Hidden secrets of a nun's life in a convent exposed, claimed to have suffered sexual abuse as a nun in a convent in Montreal. Though the book detailing her allegations sold well, the veracity of her claims was doubted almost immediately after its publication, and contemporary scholars regard her story as false., The article accompanying this portrait references the recent death of Maria Monk, suggesting that she in fact died in 1849.