Enslaved: The New British Slavery

by RahilaGupta (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $3.25

  Slavery in Britain did not end with Wilberforce. They may be largely invisible to us, but living in our midst are thousands of slaves. Rahila Gupta seeks out five escapees and persuades them to tell us their stories in this compelling and revealing book. We meet a pregnant child from Sierra Leone who was locked up in a London house as a domestic slave; a Russian teenager trafficked into prostitution; a Chinese man, living in fear of the Triads; a religious Somali woman who had to exchange sex for food; and, a young Punjabi woman forced into marriage and repeatedly abused by her husband. These are the stories of those who have escaped, through a combination of courage, timing, luck and the humanity of those who helped them. Their testimonies are harrowing but we cannot leave them unheard.

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.25

  Britain is once again home to hundreds of slaves - they reach our shores via unimaginably perilous crossings, are locked into hideous, back-breaking working lives, and remain hidden to the rest of us. Very few get free to tell of their appalling incarceration. Meet five who did here in this compelling, revealing book. Readers of politically involved, campaigning non-fiction, such as Shopped , No Logo , Nickel and Dimed . Also readers of the powerful end of the 'misery memoir' genre. Here are the horrifying stories of people who have been trafficked, smuggled or duped into the UK to find themselves stripped of their passports and money, locked in cramped rooms, shackled involuntarily to work as domestic servants, brothel workers, fruit pickers or construction workers, beaten, raped and psychologically abused, and who if they seek their freedom are threatened with unending violence. A brave and lucky handful escape from these barbaric conditions to report on their experiences to the outside world - often to find that there is not as much as support, sympathy or succour there as might be expected. Here are their harrowing testimonies.