Publishers Weekly
02/27/2023
Irish author Harding (Bright Burning Things) delivers an issue-driven story of child sex trafficking in this flat outing. Two girls, both of whom were caught up in the same trafficking scheme, narrate in alternating chapters. Sammy, 15, runs away from her suburban Dublin family to escape her abusive alcoholic mother. Brash and rebellious, Sammy “chooses” sex work, or at least she thinks she does, in part as a misguided get-rich-quick scheme. Nico, meanwhile, is a bookish 12-year-old from rural Moldova whose father tells her she’s to wed an older man who will take her to London, who then hands her father a large amount of cash. Soon Nico’s in a van with similarly vulnerable girls heading to Italy, where they are drugged and exploited. Eventually, Sammy and Nico end up sharing a room in Ireland, where the girls watch soap operas during the day before being taken by their traffickers to meet clients at night. Harding is a capable prose stylist and clearly feels for the characters, but she invests more energy in spotlighting a pressing social problem than on crafting a narrative. This lacks the power of the author’s other work. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Assoc. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
Samantha, 15, and Nicoleta, 12, hail from different worlds—Sammy the seemingly apathetic Dublin delinquent whose brashness hides her pain, Nico the star student who’s happiest romping through Moldova’s countryside. Yet both girls live the same nightmare in this searing novel about sex trafficking.” — People
“Harding creates her central characters from the stories of many survivors of sex trafficking who were able to tell their stories. The result reflects the horrifying reality of a segment of underage sex trafficking, the people who run it, and those who buy its services. Difficult, eye-opening, and compelling.” — Library Journal
“A haunting look at exploitation.” — Booklist
Library Journal
03/31/2023
Following the 2021 U.S. publication of Harding's second work, Bright Burning Things, her Kate O'Brien Award—winning first novel recounts the lives of two young girls, one from Moldova and one from Ireland, who are duped into the billion-dollar global sex trade. Sold to traffickers by her father, Nico is told that she will marry the man who takes her away but soon finds out this is not the case. Sammy, the child of an absent father and a mother who's addicted to alcohol, eventually abandons her uncertain home life for work in the sex trade, thinking she can control what happens to her there. Both girls eventually end up in the same house outside of Dublin. They have no identification, no money, and no freedom; they are escorted to every job and locked in when they return "home." One night, Sammy is badly beaten by the man she is with, and witnesses take action, but her fate at the end remains uncertain. VERDICT Harding creates her central characters from the stories of many survivors of sex trafficking who were able to tell their stories. The result reflects the horrifying reality of a segment of underage sex trafficking, the people who run it, and those who buy its services. Difficult, eye-opening, and compelling.—Joanna M. Burkhardt
