Sold **** 1/2

McCormick, Patricia. Sold. 2006.

Lakshmi, a 13 year old girl from Nepal, lives with her mother and her step-father. He has a gambling problem and he doesn't work, so that leave the family poor. Lakshmi has asked to be allowed to go to the city to work as a maid like her friend, but her parents have never allowed it. Eventually, they don't have a choice and her step-father sells her to a woman who says she is taking her to the city to be a maid. The truth is that she is taking her to the border of India where she will be smuggled in and then sold into prostitution.

Lakshmi fights against it, but she soon realized giving in and being with the men is inevitable. She realizes soon enough that she will never buy her way out. She is approached by an American who is trying to get her to come to America. She refuses to go because she is told by the others that the Americans are worse and won't treat her as well.

This wasn't an easy book to read, but it was beautifully written and the reader will learn about something they probably know nothing about. Unlike Cut, this book is written like poetry, not in prose. The short sections work for this particular story. Highly recommended.