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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Sep 2006, 272 pages
Paperback:
Apr 2008, 272 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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Although Lakshmi's family is desperately poor her life still contains simple pleasures; but, when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all the family’s crops, Lakshmi’s stepfather sends her away to take a job to support her family. When she arrives at “Happiness House”, full of hope, she learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution. An exceptional novel suitable for teens and adults.
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut in the mountains of Nepal. Her family is desperately poor, but her life is full of simple pleasures, like raising her black-and-white speckled goat, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family’s crops, Lakshmi’s stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.
He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid working for a wealthy woman in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi undertakes the long journey to India and arrives at “Happiness House” full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.
An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family’s debt – then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave.
Lakshmi’s life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother’s words – “Simply to endure is to triumph” – and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision – will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life?
Written in spare and evocative vignettes, this powerful novel renders a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs.
To research Sold, Patricia McCormick traveled to India and Nepal where she interviewed the women of Calcutta’s red-light district and girls who have been rescued from the sex trade. She is the author of the acclaimed novels Cut and My Brother’s Keeper.
SOLD
I'm wiping the makeup off my face when the dark-skinned
girl comes in.
"What do you think you're doing?" she says.
"I'm going home."
Her tear-shaped eyes grow dark.
"There is a mistake," I tell her. "I'm here to work as a maid for
a rich lady."
"Is that what you were told?"
Then Mumtaz arrives at the door, huffing, her mango face
pink with anger.
"What do you think you're doing?" she says.
"Leaving," I say. "I'm going home."
Mumtaz laughs. "Home?" she says. "And how would you get
there?"
I don't know.
"Do you know the way home?" she says.
"Do you have money for the train?
Do you speak the language here?
Do you even have any idea where you are?"
My heart is pounding like the drumming of a monsoon rain,
and my shoulders are shaking as if I had a great chill.
"You ignorant hill girl," she says.
"You don't know anything. Do you?"
I wrap my arms around myself and grip with all my might.
But the trembling will not stop.
"Well, then," Mumtaz says, pulling her ...
I'm back!
It was an incredible journey in India and a memorable moving visit to Apne-Aap
in Kolkata (Calcutta). While in Kolkata I also visited the slum areas and the
red light district, where Apne-Aap has community centers. I had hoped to be able
to share some pictures ...
Sold is a devastating little book written in free verse. Although written for teenage readers, it is one of those books that can and should cross-over into the adult market. I cannot recommend it highly enough...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Each year about 12,000 Nepali
girls are sold by their
families, intentionally or
unwittingly, into a life of
sexual slavery in the brothels
of India.
Worldwide, the US State
Department estimates that nearly
half a million children are
trafficked into the sex trade
annually.
Lakshmi was sold by her
stepfather to the intermediary
for 800 Nepalese Rupees - less
than $11.
McCormick suggests ways
teenagers (and adults) can help:
Educate yourself by visiting
...
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