Prayers for the Stolen
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By Jennifer Clement
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‘Now we make you ugly,’ my mother said. ‘The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl.’
On the mountainside in rural Mexico where Ladydi lives, being a girl is dangerous. Especially a pretty one. If the Narcos hear there is a pretty girl on the mountain, they steal her. So when the black SUVs roll into town, Ladydi and her friends hide in the warren of holes scattered across the mountain, safely out of sight. Because the stolen girls don’t come back.
Ladydi is determined to get out, to find a life that offers more than just the struggle to survive. But she soon finds that the drug cartels have eyes everywhere, and the cities are no safer than the mountains.
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An absolutely brilliant novel, so well written. The story is a harrowing one, not least because it's the true story of so many girls and women in Mexico, but the writing is so sparce and precise and injected with such shàrp humour that it is an absolute delight to read. My heart was breaking for the women and girls in the story and it made me so angry and frustrated about the machismo of not just Mexican drug lords but of all men who ignore, collude with and participate in the oppression and subjugation of women. Jennifer Clement has done an amazing job in telling this story so charmimgly. Most highly recommended.