Sold: Story of Modern-day Slavery

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'This is a fascinating story.' SOUTH WALES ECHO

UK Kirkus review

By her own account, Zana Muhsen's was a troubled family. Her father had already sent an older brother and sister to his family in Aden as small children, and their dual nationality had meant that they could not be returned to England. Nevertheless, when he proposed a holiday for Zana and Nadia to his native Yemen, they could not have expected to find, on their arrival, that he had married them off without their consent, to boys they had never met, and was now abandoning them to life in a village as far removed from life in Birmingham as could be imagined. Raped by their husbands and regularly beaten, the sisters endured daily hardships, and the ordeal of childbirth without proper medical care. Meanwhile, their mother, Miriam, began a furious campaign for their return but once again their dual nationality meant that the Yemeni government need not send them back and it took many years of diplomatic haggling before Zana was permitted to leave, and then only after surrendering her child to her husband's family. Nadia, her spirit broken by the harsh treatment of her family and unable to take her children with her, has remained in Yemen despite continued campaigning and it seems unlikely that anything can be done to rescue her; the legal position is confused and diplomats are reluctant to commit themselves. It seems unbelievable that in this day and age girls can still be sold into unwanted marriages which are little more than slavery. Zana Muhsen's story stands as a stark warning to all those who say that it can't happen here. (Kirkus UK)

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