A Harvest of Thorns

Starred review from November 28, 2016
In this condemning portrayal of the endemic abuses that undergird the international fashion industry, Addison (Tears of the Dark Water) takes the reader on a journey across the world, tracking a brand of clothing from retailer to distributor to manufacturer to sweatshop factory. In a news image gone viral, a pair of pants bearing the label of mega-retailer Presto Omnishops is seen wrapped around the face of a young Bangladeshi girl—the victim of a tragic fall during a building fire in her workplace, where clothing orders from Presto were fulfilled. Facing international scandal and falling market shares, Presto tasks their attorney, Cameron Alexander, to investigate. His thorough efforts uncover a massive level of corruption and willful corporate blindness to the labor trafficking upon which the company’s profits rest. Then, a year later, investigative journalist Joshua Griswold receives a tip from a whistle-blower inside Presto. With that information he builds a case that heads to the courtroom to expose corporate malfeasance from the lowest manager up to the board of directors. In this incisive, necessary book, readers accompany the investigators to the slums of Bangladesh and Malaysia back to the retail stores of America, learning with them the true price of cheap clothing. Through his broad, intelligent research and insightful writing, Addison prods the conscience, trumpeting justice while acknowledging that the cost of a globalized society is incalculably higher than the price of a T-shirt. Agent: Dan Raines, Creative Trust.

February 1, 2017

After a deadly fire in a Bangladeshi sweatshop, a photograph of a dead factory girl wearing a face mask labeled Presto Omnishops Corporation goes viral and ignites outrage. Cameron Alexander, the general counsel for the large clothing manufacturer, investigates the disaster, risking his life as he learns some grim realities about worker abuse and corporate responsibility. Meanwhile, ambitious journalist Joshua Griswold is looking for a break to restore his career. After a whistleblower tips him off about some damaging information, Joshua compiles a case against Presto. The potential ramifications draw enormous media attention and shine a spotlight on the garment industry as a whole, and Presto in particular. VERDICT Addison (The Tears of Dark Water) crafts a stunning legal thriller that will immerse readers in its South Asian setting and fascinating characters. Its focus on workers rights and social justice is also bound to have crossover appeal for readers of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and histories of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

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