Cloud Girls: A Novel

by Lisa Harding

Overview

A PEOPLE MAGAZINE PICK! “Shocking—and shockingly good. It is thought-provoking, anger-provoking, guilt-provoking, and—most importantly—it is a brilliantly written novel.”—Roddy Doyle 

Thrown together by a harrowing twist of fate, two girls will find hope and redemption in friendship in this award-winning, emotional gut punch of a novel from the author of Bright Burning Things.

Sassy, streetwise Sammy is a teenage girl who is falling through the cracks. Neglected by an alcoholic mother, the problems she endures at school and home lead her into the hands of adults who don't have her best interests in mind. Failed by them at every turn, Sammy acts out, seeking attention from boys, then men, when what she wants most is protection.

Meanwhile, in a small village in Eastern Europe, preternaturally beautiful and naïve Nico is about to turn thirteen and as her family falls upon desperate times, her father is approached to marry her off. Her family knows that the nice life this stranger seems to be offering Nico is too good to be true, but they and Nico hope for the best as she’s shuttled across the border into Ireland, where she and Sammy find one another in their new home, a suburban brothel.

As Nico and Sammy journey into this dark underbelly and out the other side, their friendship—and the unexpected acts of kindness they give and receive—form a potent bond.

Heartbreaking and breathtakingly beautiful, Cloud Girls exposes the failings of polite society and the cruelty that exists beneath its surface, yet reminds us that goodness and love can flourish in the darkest times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063270305
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/25/2023
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	224,445
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Lisa Harding is a writer, actress, playwright. She received an MPhil in creative writing from Trinity College Dublin in 2014. Her short stories have been published in the Dublin Review, the Bath Short Story Anthology, HeadStuff, and Winter Papers. Her first novel, Harvesting, won the 2018 Kate O'Brien Award and was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award and the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award. She lives in Dublin.

Editorial Reviews

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.)

Publishers Weekly

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

From the Publisher

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

Library Journal