A Walk Across the Sun

September 12, 2011
In his debut novel, lawyer Addison uncovers the labyrinthine underside of human trafficking in this dazzling transcontinental story about the power of conviction, the bonds of family, and the tenacity of love. After a tsunami in India tragically orphans 17-year old Ahalya Ghai and her 15-year-old sister, Sita, the girls are kidnapped and taken to a Mumbai brothel where their nightmare begins. Meanwhile, D.C.-based attorney Thomas Clarke faces marital and career crises. His wife, Priya, returns to her family in India when her grandmother dies, Thomas’s demanding legal career and the SIDS death of their infant daughter having taken their toll. Assuming the blame for a headline-grabbing legal debacle, Thomas accepts his firm’s offer to take a paid sabbatical and work on a pro bono case overseas. He ends up in Mumbai working for CASE (Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation). When CASE comes to rescue Ahalya, the sisters are separated, and Sita must go to Paris (and later, America) as a drug mule, as her owners try to elude their pursuers. In addition to Ahalya and Sita’s timely story, Addison’s portrait of Thomas and Priya’s tenuous relationship skillfully reveals the difficulty of inter-cultural marriage. The novel successfully explicates the magnitude of the human trafficking business, the complexities of international legalities, and the impact of the Internet’s role in this horrifying underworld.

November 15, 2011

This chilling, suspenseful, and powerful debut weaves fictional characters into the reality of contemporary slavery. The novel opens on the serene shores of Tamil Nadu, India, as a tsunami rips apart the coastal towns. Two survivors, orphaned sisters who have lost nearly everything, are thrown into the havoc and are immediately sold into the sex trade. The teenage girls are passed from one criminal to the next, experiencing horrors that span the globe. Meanwhile, an American lawyer caught up in a midlife crisis takes a sabbatical to India and helps prosecute human traffickers. His work becomes entwined with the plight of the two sisters, and he sets out to rescue them from the international trade. VERDICT The story is compelling, but the message is greater and will leave an impact on everyone who picks up the book. Readers will mourn the injustices depicted and celebrate the triumphs long after the last page is turned.--Andrea Brooks, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights

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