Novels / Fiction

Novels / Fiction books about slavery and human trafficking
Updated December 7, 2015, Sorted alphabetically by book title

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	Copper Sun– Sharon M. Draper, 2006. Coretta Scott King 2007 Author Award Winner Description from GoodReads Stolen from her village, sold to the highest bidder, fifteen-year-old Amari has only one thing left of her own: hope. Amari’s life was once perfect. Engaged to the handsomest man in her tribe, adored by her family, and living in a beautiful village, she could not have imagined everything could be taken away from her in an instant. But when slave traders invade her village and brutally murder her entire family, Amari finds herself dragged away to a slave ship headed to the Carolinas, where she is bought by a plantation owner and given to his son as a birthday present. Survival seems all that Amari can hope for. But then an act of unimaginable cruelty provides her with an opportunity to escape, and with an indentured servant named Polly she flees to Fort Mose, Florida, in search of sanctuary at the Spanish colony. Can the elusive dream of freedom sustain Amari and Polly on their arduous journey, fraught with hardship and danger? Find study guides at Sharon Draper’s website Share a review or order a copy at GoodReads Thanks to Cicely Lewis for the comment & recommendation!
	Deliver Me from Evil– Kathi Macias, 2011. Freedom Series #1 Description from kathimacias.com Deliver Me from Evil introduces readers to Mara, an eighteen-year-old girl who has been enslaved for nearly ten years, having been sold by her parents in Mexico and then smuggled across the border into San Diego where she was forced into sexual slavery. Readers will also meet 18-year-old, Bible-college-bound Jonathan and his 16-year-old sister, Leah, whose paths cross Mara’s and who become involved in her dramatic rescue. Interwoven between the stories of Mara, Jonathan, and Leah is the heartbreaking story of another young woman in captivity in the Golden Triangle of Thailand, whose past life mysteriously connects to the young people in San Diego. Find out more or order a copy from New Hope Digital Share a review or order a copy at goodreads
	Dismal Key – Mitch Doxsee, 2013 Description from GoodReads A suspenseful thriller centered on Human Trafficking – More common and closer to home than people wish to believe. Sixteen-year-old McKlusky Harvey’s parents ship him off to Florida every summer to work on those “behavioral issues” of his. He’s actually enjoying himself on his grandfather’s fishing boat, until his new girlfriend goes missing. It turns out she was taken by a trio of human traffickers. Other girls are also missing. The traffickers have disappeared into the Ten Thousand Islands and are planning to ship the girls to Cuba for auction. McKlusky and ex-CIA agent, Becker, are both trying to find the girls. McKlusky understands two things: 1) The smugglers know the islands a hell of a lot better than any cop, and 2) a flurry of boats and choppers suddenly appearing in the area will just get the girls killed. Enlisting his drug-running cousin to help him, McKlusky takes off after the bad guys with nothing more than a knife and an optimism that far outbalances any good sense. Becker has hired McKlusky’s grandfather to boat him through, and that puts even more family at risk when the traffickers spring a deadly trap not even the seasoned pro sees coming. Can McKlusky and Becker find Chloe and the other girls In time? Winner of the Florida Author’s & Publisher’s Asso.(FAPA) 2013 eBook category. Thanks Terri Gerrell for the comment and recommendation!
	More Than Rice: A Journey Through the Underworld of Human Trafficking– Pamala Kennedy Chestnut, 2010. Find out complete info at More Than Rice author’s website  or get it at Amazon “Gabriela Mendoza puts a face to the gut-wrenching tragedy of the 3 million women and children that are abducted every year and sold into sex trafficking. MORE THAN RICE gives the reader an up close and personal look into this dark world of girls between the ages of twelve and seventeen stolen and forced to work in brothels.”  (from More Than Rice website)
	River of Innocents – Terry Lee Wright, 2008. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin for today’s world.”  In a world of stolen children and broken dreams, the seventeen- year-old Majlinda struggles to hold on to her humanity.  She has no control over her life or even over her own body, yet where people are disposable, where rape is part of the normal day, and where guards watch her every move, Majlinda strives to create a family out of the stolen children around her and to give them hope when all they know is fear.  RIVER OF INNOCENTS is a novel about that hope and that terrible fear, about ideals in the face of despair, about the strength we find in ourselves when others need us, and about slavery as it is.  If we are to end today’s slavery, we must first know of it; here is the story of Majlinda’s long struggle to be free. http://www.riverofinnocents.com/wp/
	Sold– Patricia McCormick, 2006.  National Book Award Finalist 2007Told in a series of haunting vignettes, Sold is a harrowing account of a sexual slavery. Alternating lyrical imagery with precise detail, McCormick gives voice to the terror and bewilderment of a young girl robbed of her childhood but who finds the strength to triumph. (from http://patriciamccormick.com/) See a longer description or Buy it at Good Reads Buy Kindle or Paperback at Amazon Thanks to Laura and Katy, both who commented and recommended this book!
	Special Delivery– Kathi Macias, expected March 2012.  Freedom Series #2 Description from New Hope Digital In book two of the “Freedom” series, readers find Mara fighting against her attraction to Bible college student Jonathan Flannery even while wrestling with risking her own precarious safety to become involved in the rescue of another girl who is pregnant and desperately wants to escape her captors and save her own life, as well as her child’s. Halfway around the world in a brothel in Thailand, a young girl is rescued with the promise of being reunited with her younger sister who was adopted by an interracial couple in the States, friends of Jonathan’s family. Meanwhile, Jefe—Mara’s uncle, who held her as a sex slave in his brothel in San Diego for years—seeks revenge for Mara’s testimony that put him behind bars for life. Will his underworld connections be successful in kidnapping and killing the girl who believes she has finally won her freedom?
	The Sunken Cathedral: A Human Trafficking Novel – Nicholas Sheppard, 2011.  Two young girls, Makena (from Nairobi) and Lilya (from Moldova), are lured into human trafficking rings, and forced into prostitution in the dazzle and congestion of Soho, London. Exploited and unrecognized without the official documents their minders have stolen, they endure suffering they could never have imagined. But when they meet, they form a special bond, find imaginative ways to cope, and dream of their freedom.  Smashwords ebook Kindle edition from Amazon
	A Walk Across the Sun: A Novel– Corban Addison, 2012.  “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 Two sisters are abducted into a horrific world of sex trafficking, and a stranger battles an international criminal network to attempt their rescue. Buy it, read an excerpt, or view a video trailer at http://www.corbanaddison.com

If you know of additional books, please leave a comment so I can add them to this list. Your opinions and reviews of any of these books, or others on the topic are welcome as well. Buy local by finding a local independent bookstore in your area.