The Last Thing to Burn

March 1, 2021
Dean's chilling suspense novel reveals the dark world of sexual enslavement with a constant refrain: My name is not Jane. My name is Thanh Dao. The young Vietnamese woman and her sister arrive in the UK with high hopes of making a new life. Then Thanh Dao is kidnapped and held prisoner on an isolated farm in a decaying house by Lenn, an absolute brute of a man. Thanh Dao shares a stomach-turning tale of abuse and hopelessness. There is no chance of running away. Lenn has physically hobbled her by damaging her ankle, and psychologically torments her by threatening to capture her sister as well. She finds some comfort in the sister's letters and a battered copy of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, although one by one these lifelines are burned as punishment for her "'transgressions." After giving birth to a daughter and befriending another woman being held in the basement, Thanh Dao comes up with a grim escape plan. This will appeal to fans of Emma Donoghue's Room (2010) and Romy Hausmann's Dear Child (2020).

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April 16, 2021

Jane (not her real name) lives on an isolated farm in the United Kingdom, with a man who claims to be her husband--but she doesn't remember marrying him. Jane and her sister were taken from their home in Vietnam and promised jobs in America and the opportunity to send money home to their family. In reality, Jane was drugged and sold to a man who now keeps her captive on the farm, where she's expected to clean, cook, and act the wife. Each time she questions her situation or does something he deems punishable, she loses a little more of herself. Her few possessions from home are taken and burned, one by one for each infraction. Resigned to her fate, Jane spends her days with little hope, but when she discovers she's pregnant and then gives birth to a daughter, she is determined to escape. Finally, when her "husband" brings another woman to the farm, Jane endeavors to find a way out, for all of them. VERDICT Dean (Red Snow) has written a horrific tale of human trafficking in this gripping and powerful novel. Recommended to fans of stories that explore the sheer human will and determination to escape unimaginable situations.--Cynthia Price, Francis Marion Univ. Lib., Florence, SC

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