Book Summary and Reviews of A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison

A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison

A Walk Across the Sun

A Novel

by Corban Addison

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  • Readers' Rating (5):
  • Published:
  • Jan 2012, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

When a tsunami rages through their coastal town in India, 17-year-old Ahalya Ghai and her 15-year-old sister Sita are left orphaned and homeless. With almost everyone they know suddenly erased from the face of the earth, the girls set out for the convent where they attend school. They are abducted almost immediately and sold to a Mumbai brothel owner, beginning a hellish descent into the bowels of the sex trade.

Halfway across the world in Washington, D.C., attorney Thomas Clarke faces his own personal and professional crisis - and makes the fateful decision to pursue a pro bono sabbatical working in India for an NGO that prosecutes the subcontinent's human traffickers. There, his conscience awakens as he sees firsthand the horrors of the trade in human flesh, and the corrupt judicial system that fosters it. Learning of the fate of Ahalya and Sita, Clarke makes it his personal mission to rescue them, setting the stage for a riveting showdown with an international network of ruthless criminals.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"The novel successfully explicates the magnitude of the human trafficking business, the complexities of international legalities, and the impact of the Internet's role in this horrifying underworld." - Publishers Weekly

"Clarke's quest requires more than a little suspension of disbelief, but it offers an insightful take on the all-too-real problems of international human trafficking." - Booklist

"Addison has written a novel that is beautiful in its story and also important in its message. A Walk Across the Sun deserves a wide audience." - John Grisham

This information about A Walk Across the Sun was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Louise J

A Scorcher of a Read!
This was a difficult book to read for me because it dealt with the horrible but very real world of exploitation in its worst form; the rape of young girls and women. This despicable act isn’t just relegated to the farthest reaches of our planet but happens every single day in our own backyards.

I was enraged at the blaring disregard for women and I had many tear-stained pages throughout my reading of this novel. I was thankful for Mr. Addison’s notes at the end of the novel on how to help stop human trafficking and is a must read! This novel has moved me into action and I highly recommend everyone read it. This would be a great book selection for book clubs. It needs to be discussed and kept on the front burner and in the forefront of everyone’s mind. We all need to pitch in and help.

Jackie

Of Interest
A WALK ACROSS THE SUN was an interesting read about the horrors of sex slavery in India and how easy it is to be trapped into sex slavery as well as "slavery" in an ill suited, demanding profession.
The content was interesting. The book well written.
But, it didn't rivet the attention of the reader with breath holding scenes as I expected it to. Regardless, it is worth the time to read it to gain an understanding of sex slavery as well as the issues of a demanding profession. Relationship issues are well handled. A good start for a first novel.

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Author Information

Corban Addison Author Biography

Photo: © Mark Meranta

Corban Addison is the internationally bestselling author of four novels, A Walk Across the Sun, The Garden of Burning Sand, The Tears of Dark Water (winner of the inaugural Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize), and A Harvest of Thorns, all of which address some of today's most pressing human rights issues. An attorney, activist, and world traveler, he lives with his wife and children in Virginia.

Link to Corban Addison's Website

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