A 13 year old girl in Nepal isn’t that much different from any 13 year old girl anywhere. Lakshmi goes to school where she plays with her friends, likes her teacher, and is a good student. At home she helps her mother and cares for her beloved pet, a goat named Tali. She is aware of boys and steals looks at Krishna, a shy boy that she will marry some day. But her stepfather has other plans.
“A girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives you milk and butter. But not worth crying over when it’s time to make a stew.”
Lakshmi is put under contract by her stepfather and indentured to a wealthy city woman as a house maid for 800 rupees. She imagines earning enough to pay for a new roof for their home. Her last words are a message for her mother. “Tell Ama I will make her proud. Tell her I’ll be back for the next festival season.” Then she follows her “new auntie” out of the village thinking about returning with a cash dowery for her future husband.
It’s all a lie, of course. She has been sold into prostitution. Her “new auntie” takes her through several villages on foot, then bus. Then puts her in the care of a strange man, an “uncle” she must say is her “husband” if questioned. He takes her by train and finally by car into the slums of Calcutta. Here, finally, she discovers what her new life is to be.
In Sold, Patricia McCormick uses Lakshmi’s voice and understanding to tell us her story. As a reader, we understand things Lakshmi does not. We make connections she can not. We understand her but wish she understood more. Each short chapter reads like it’s part child’s diary and part poignant poetry.
Execerpt:
“MOVING FORWARD
Auntie says I must walk ahead of her even though I do not know the way.
‘I will be behind you,’ she says.
I am too shy to tell her I won’t run off, too timid to tell her how proud I am to be the first person in my family to leave the mountain.
I feel a tiny sting on the backs of my legs, and I realize that Auntie has thrown a handful of gravel at my heels. To keep me moving forward.”
We read and long to warn her, comfort her, save her. But we cannot save her… can we?
(Tune in Monday)
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(photo is cropped cover art of the book SOLD)