A Harvest of Thorns

by Corban Addison Narrated by Firdous Bamji

Overview

Corbin Addison explores the human stories behind global labor sourcing in the international fashion industry in this thrilling, shocking and compelling tale. A beloved American corporation with an explosive secret. A disgraced former journalist looking for redemption. A corporate executive with nothing left to lose. In Dhaka, Bangladesh, a garment factory burns to the ground, claiming the lives of hundreds of workers, mostly young women. Amid the rubble, a bystander captures a heart-stopping image-a teenage girl lying in the dirt, her body broken by a multi-story fall, and over her mouth a mask of fabric bearing the label of one of America's largest retailers, Presto Omnishops Corporation. When the photo goes viral, it fans the flames of a decades old controversy about sweatshops, labor rights, and the ethics of globalization. A year later, in Washington, D.C., Joshua Griswold, a disgraced former journalist for the Washington Post, receives an anonymous summons from a corporate whistleblower promising information about Presto. There, to Griswold's astonishment, he meets Cameron Alexander, Presto's long-time general counsel. Alexander, who has secrets of his own, offers Griswold confidential information about Presto's apparel supply chain. For Griswold, the challenge of exposing Presto's willful negligence is irresistible, as is the chance, however slight, at redemption. Deploying his old journalistic skills, he builds a historic case against Presto, setting the stage for a war in the courtroom and in the media that Griswold is determined to win-both to salvage his reputation and to provoke a revolution of conscience in Presto's boardroom that could change the course of the fashion industry across the globe.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

★ 11/28/2016
In this condemning portrayal of the endemic abuses that undergird the international fashion industry, Addison (Tears of the Dark Water) takes the reader on a journey across the world, tracking a brand of clothing from retailer to distributor to manufacturer to sweatshop factory. In a news image gone viral, a pair of pants bearing the label of mega-retailer Presto Omnishops is seen wrapped around the face of a young Bangladeshi girl—the victim of a tragic fall during a building fire in her workplace, where clothing orders from Presto were fulfilled. Facing international scandal and falling market shares, Presto tasks their attorney, Cameron Alexander, to investigate. His thorough efforts uncover a massive level of corruption and willful corporate blindness to the labor trafficking upon which the company’s profits rest. Then, a year later, investigative journalist Joshua Griswold receives a tip from a whistle-blower inside Presto. With that information he builds a case that heads to the courtroom to expose corporate malfeasance from the lowest manager up to the board of directors. In this incisive, necessary book, readers accompany the investigators to the slums of Bangladesh and Malaysia back to the retail stores of America, learning with them the true price of cheap clothing. Through his broad, intelligent research and insightful writing, Addison prods the conscience, trumpeting justice while acknowledging that the cost of a globalized society is incalculably higher than the price of a T-shirt. Agent: Dan Raines, Creative Trust. (Jan.)

3 stars RT Book Reviews

The shocking prologue in Addison’s latest starts the book off with a bang and sets the tone nicely. This should appeal to fans of meaty whodunit stories; it’s also compelling, captivating and moderately paced.

Library Journal

02/01/2017
After a deadly fire in a Bangladeshi sweatshop, a photograph of a dead factory girl wearing a face mask labeled Presto Omnishops Corporation goes viral and ignites outrage. Cameron Alexander, the general counsel for the large clothing manufacturer, investigates the disaster, risking his life as he learns some grim realities about worker abuse and corporate responsibility. Meanwhile, ambitious journalist Joshua Griswold is looking for a break to restore his career. After a whistleblower tips him off about some damaging information, Joshua compiles a case against Presto. The potential ramifications draw enormous media attention and shine a spotlight on the garment industry as a whole, and Presto in particular. VERDICT Addison (The Tears of Dark Water) crafts a stunning legal thriller that will immerse readers in its South Asian setting and fascinating characters. Its focus on workers rights and social justice is also bound to have crossover appeal for readers of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and histories of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171170653
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	01/24/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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