Published by Hodder & Stoughton
Publication Date: 7th January 2021
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Book Description:
He is her husband. She is his captive.
Her husband calls her Jane. That is not her name.
She lives in a small farm cottage, surrounded by vast, open fields. Everywhere she looks, there is space. But she is trapped. No one knows how she got to the UK: no one knows she is there. Visitors rarely come to the farm; if they do, she is never seen.
Her husband records her every movement during the day. If he doesn't like what he sees, she is punished.
For a long time, escape seemed impossible. But now, something has changed. She has a reason to live and a reason to fight. Now, she is watching him, and waiting ...
My Thoughts:
Why did I wait so long to read this book? Marian Keyes summed it up perfectly: I don't think I can describe it any more accurately:
This book is brutal in its depiction of a young Vietnamese woman who, along with her sister, paid for the opportunity of a better life in the UK. They were promised work in the retail trade, safe accommodation and once they had paid the agreed fee, they would be able to choose whether they moved on to different jobs in other towns - basically a new life with a better future than they would have experienced if they stayed in their homeland.
The reality is that they are trafficked and after their first job fruit-picking they are separated; one of the sisters is sold to Lenn, a farmer who changes her name to Jane and keeps her locked in the house under video surveillance so he can check whether she does her chores or tries to escape. Her sister, Lenn tells her, is living in Manchester working as a technician in a nail bar. This may be true at the start, and it is what keeps Thanh Dao going during the living nightmare she is experiencing. Everything she does is in the hope that she will see Kim-Ly again soon. That she is not suffering as she herself is.
This is such an emotional read, your heart breaks for poor Thanh Dao; every opportunity that arises to either get word to the outside world that she's there and is desperate for help or to escape along the farm track to the nearest house or passer-by has you totally invested and willing her to succeed. The story had my heart racing in a comparable way to American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, the suspense ratcheted up to maximum.
The title made heartbreaking sense as I worked my way through the chapters, and I could have happily disposed of Lenn and his cronies myself given half a chance!
Despite the upsetting nature of the story content, I would strongly recommend this as an essential addition to everyone's TBR shelf.
About the Author:
Will Dean grew up in the East Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. After studying law at the LSE, and working many varied jobs in London, he settled in rural Sweden with his wife. He built a wooden house in a boggy forest clearing and it's from this base that he compulsively reads and writes.
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