Harvesting
Lisa Harding
New Island Books
Lisa Harding’s Harvesting delves into the underground world of sex trafficking in Dublin. It is an utterly devastating and monstrously affecting novel. Harding says she was moved to write the book when she was involved in a campaign by the Children’s Rights Alliance: she was haunted by the first-hand accounts of trafficking victims she heard. ‘Don’t Close Your Eyes to Human Trafficking’ is the motto of the Blue Blindfold organisation Harding recommends, and the author has made it impossible for her readers to remain blind to these issues.
Rage-inducing and relentless in its depiction of the cruel realities of life for forced sex workers, the novel draws its power from Harding’s talent for voice and characterisation. The central focus is kept on the emotional lives of its two protagonists, both told in the first person: Amy fizzes off the page as a rebellious and troubled young Irish teen running away from an abusive home, and Nico is a conscientious, sensitive and wise little girl who is sold by her father and taken from her Moldovan village to meet her horrific fate.
Amy brings comedic flamboyance to the narrative; without it, the book would be too heavy on our hearts. In telling the story of Nico and Amy’s friendship, Harding manages to make a stirring, life-affirming novel, that and finds a glimmer of beauty and hope in an ugly world.
Words – Maryam Madani
