This is investigative journalism at its best. Fearless, rigorous, and
compassionate, Invisible is a shocking exposé of Britain's shadow
world of sex slaves.--James Brabazon, author of My Friend the
Mercenary
Pai has done it again; she went undercover, smelled the breath of
violence and videotaped the underworld of pimps and madams. . . .
Hsiao-Hung deflates the myth of sex work as a free choice for migrant
women.--Lydia Cacho, author of Slavery Inc.
Ming and Beata share neither the same language nor cultural background,
yet their stories are remarkably similar. Both are single mothers in
their thirties and both came to Britain in search of a new life: Ming
from China and Beata from Poland. Neither imagined that their journey
would end in a British brothel.
In this chilling exposé, investigative journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai works
undercover as a housekeeper in a brothel and unveils the terrible
reality of the British sex trade. Workers are trapped and
controlled--the lack of freedom this invisible strait of society suffers
is both shocking and scandalous and at odds with the idea of a modern
Britain in the twenty-first century.
A feature-length documentary based on Invisible and directed by Nick
Broomfield was first screened in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 in
September 2013.
Hsiao-Hung Pai is an acclaimed journalist whose report on the
Morecambe Bay tragedy for the Guardian was made into the film
Ghosts. Her book on undocumented Chinese immigrants in Britain,
Chinese Whispers, was shortlisted for the George Orwell Prize.
