Summary Of Kim Purcell's 'Trafficked'

“Trafficked” is a gripping tale about the harrowing journey of a young girl who trafficked to America, believing that she will achieve the “American Dream” of success and happiness. 17-year-old Hannah believes that she has no future in the poor and corrupt country of Moldova. So, when she is given the chance to go to America and work, she gladly accepts. However, working unpaid for up to 12 hours a day for the manipulative and exploitative Platanovs is nothing like she imagined living in America to be. Harrowing and gripping, “Trafficked” made me think about the horrifying industry that captures so many innocent people every year. What made Hannah’s scenario even more shocking was that she was already aware about human trafficking, but was

Prior to reading “Trafficked”, I thought that primary reason why women and girls were trafficked was for the sex industry, as this is the most publicised form of trafficking, due to the fact that it is often the most brutal. However, I was surprised to learn that the most common reason why people are trafficked is domestic slavery. Hannah is forced to cook, clean and look after the Platanov’s children, often working from the moment she wakes up until late into the night. For this, she receives no money, as Sergey tells her that she must pay off the debt that she created for the family by coming to America. Hannah is essentially trapped, as she is banned from leaving the house, and even on the rare occasion that she is let out to do shopping, her English is not substantial enough to inform anyone of her situation. Something that I found interesting is that Hannah had no idea that she’d been trafficked until later on in the book. In fact, she was very aware about human trafficking, as they’d been warnings about it in her home in Moldova. Her best friend, Katya, tries to warn her, pointing to a campaign poster warning Moldovan girls about human trafficking and saying “That’s going to be you”. However, Hannah has been tricked to believe that she’ll be in safe hands, replying with “Katya, my uncle’s wife knows the agent.” The fact that this type of human trafficking is so unnoticed that even the victims don’t realise until too late made me angry. However, it also made me think about all the people, especially girls, who are trafficked every year. For this reason, I think that it is important that girls read books like “Trafficked”, so that they are aware that human trafficking can take many different