The powerful, poignant, bestselling National Book Award Finalist gives
voice to a young girl robbed of her childhood yet determined to find the
strength to triumph Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with
her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though she is
desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing
hopscotch with her best friend from school, and having her mother brush
her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan
monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's
stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her
family.
He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find
her a job as a maid in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi
journeys to India and arrives at "Happiness House" full of hope. But she
soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.
An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning.
She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her
family's debt-then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can
never leave.
Lakshmi's life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still,
she lives by her mother's words-Simply to endure is to triumph-and
gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to
survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must
make a decision-will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her
life?
Written in spare and evocative vignettes by the co-author of I Am
Malala (Young Readers Edition), this powerful novel renders a world
that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives
but triumphs.
