Sold - Patricia McCormick

Sold is the story of a 13 year old Nepali girl named Lakshmi. The narrative opens with a description of life in her villiage, how difficult it is for her family to feed everyone, and the male worship that is an overwhelming force in her part of the world. Lakshmi's stepfather is worshiped to the point where even though he openly talks of selling her and bets away all his money, and her mother still tells her to be thankful that they have a man looking after them.

Lakshmi feels the pressure to help earn money for her family and agrees to go and work. Her stepfather instead sells her to a trafficker without telling her and she ends up in an unnamed city in a brothel. Her transition from care free child to exploited woman is short and brutal. It is made clear that even those who escape their "debt" to the madam and are allowed to leave will never be welcomed back by their family and diseases are neither avoided nor rare.

At the end of the book, Lakshmi is rescued from the brothel by a man from an NGO. It leaves you feeling both glad she got out, and ashamed that so many will not.

Verdict: Read it. Sexual slavery and trafficking is a problem that spans the whole world and needs the attention of everyone.

Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay's Dance Bars - Sonia Faleiro

In this book, Sonia Faleiro goes in search of information on the underworld of Mumbai Dance Bars and the girls that dance in them. She comes across some very colorful, yet tragic personalities.

Far from respectable, yet not as disregarded as prostitutes, dance bar girls often walk a very fine "sugar daddy" line that is never stable nor secure and very easily slides into prostitution. Echoing some of the other less fortunate parts of different societies, getting a glimpse into the mentality of people who didn't come from money and find themselves with some of it is fascinating. There is no thought to saving, no thought to making smart decisions, should the girl have the ability to. Most girls got into the dance business from sexual abuse at home/in their village and strike out looking for a better life and more work. What she walks into is a seedy, crime infested, insecure life that she finds herself resigned to. It's tragic and fascinating at the same time.

Verdict: Read it if you have a soft spot for people forced to do their best in bad situations, especially if you have a tender for women doing the best they can while being utterly exploited.