Trafficked by Sophie Hayes

A real life account of a British girl who was trafficked and forced into  the sex trade under the pretext of love and friendship. It opens up our dimensions to understanding people and how calculative they can be.

The story pans across her childhood, fears, family, friends, work and how a man walked into this set up and took complete control of her life for 6 full months. Being at the mercy of someone else, not being able to take in food, being beaten up and then soothed in the name of love. It all seems so confusing that it might seem that maybe they are even right in what they are doing. That is what Sophie thought. And, this is a very possible thing, as when you trusted one person and they stood by you through thick and thin, you start to see their rights as THE RIGHT.

It was horrific to see how she was emotionally traumatized and blackmailed into believing that this is the right way to be doing things and this is just a phase which will pass. She is made to believe that the man would eventually be with her and love her, and all he wants is her help. He has made her believe that everyone is her enemy and he alone can help her, and a wrong move means that her family stands to face his wrath.

This is a book which I picked up on an impulse when I saw it at my library and it was a quick read. At times I felt that the intensity of the horror was lost with repetitive situations which I do understand might have been the situation. She was leading a life of monotony, standing at the road side and being picked up by clients through the night and sleeping through the day. At the end of it, you start to look at the casual people standing around with a question in your mind. That is what happened to me...