Cloud Girls
A Novel
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A PEOPLE MAGAZINE PICK! “Shocking—and shockingly good. It is thought-provoking, anger-provoking, guilt-provoking, and—most importantly—it is a brilliantly written novel.”—Roddy Doyle
Thrown together by a harrowing twist of fate, two girls will find hope and redemption in friendship in this award-winning, emotional gut punch of a novel from the author of Bright Burning Things.
Sassy, streetwise Sammy is a teenage girl who is falling through the cracks. Neglected by an alcoholic mother, the problems she endures at school and home lead her into the hands of adults who don't have her best interests in mind. Failed by them at every turn, Sammy acts out, seeking attention from boys, then men, when what she wants most is protection.
Meanwhile, in a small village in Eastern Europe, preternaturally beautiful and naïve Nico is about to turn thirteen and as her family falls upon desperate times, her father is approached to marry her off. Her family knows that the nice life this stranger seems to be offering Nico is too good to be true, but they and Nico hope for the best as she’s shuttled across the border into Ireland, where she and Sammy find one another in their new home, a suburban brothel.
As Nico and Sammy journey into this dark underbelly and out the other side, their friendship—and the unexpected acts of kindness they give and receive—form a potent bond.
Heartbreaking and breathtakingly beautiful, Cloud Girls exposes the failings of polite society and the cruelty that exists beneath its surface, yet reminds us that goodness and love can flourish in the darkest times.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Irish author Harding (Bright Burning Things) delivers an issue-driven story of child sex trafficking in this flat outing. Two girls, both of whom were caught up in the same trafficking scheme, narrate in alternating chapters. Sammy, 15, runs away from her suburban Dublin family to escape her abusive alcoholic mother. Brash and rebellious, Sammy "chooses" sex work, or at least she thinks she does, in part as a misguided get-rich-quick scheme. Nico, meanwhile, is a bookish 12-year-old from rural Moldova whose father tells her she's to wed an older man who will take her to London, who then hands her father a large amount of cash. Soon Nico's in a van with similarly vulnerable girls heading to Italy, where they are drugged and exploited. Eventually, Sammy and Nico end up sharing a room in Ireland, where the girls watch soap operas during the day before being taken by their traffickers to meet clients at night. Harding is a capable prose stylist and clearly feels for the characters, but she invests more energy in spotlighting a pressing social problem than on crafting a narrative. This lacks the power of the author's other work.
