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The Oldest Game by Sue Leger (view source)
Revision as of 09:42, 26 August 2020
, 09:42, 26 August 2020no edit summary
|pages=140
|publisher=AuthorHouse
|date=June 2016
|isbn=1524635014
But most importantly, the realities of the sex trade and the trafficking that supplies it are laid bare. Marta thinks she is applying for a worthwhile job taking care of old people, that she will earn good money in a more prosperous country, and be able to send money home to her family in a Romania struggling after the collapse of the Ceausescu regime. But she isn't. The agency is just a front. Trafficking operations are sophisticated and it's easy for anyone to fall victim to them.
You might think that those "windows" in the red -light districts of Amsterdam are filled by women who have freely chosen this work. That the installation of police alarms in each booth mean means that these women are safe. Not so. Marta, and many like her, are not safe. They are in as much danger from the men who run the windows as they are from their clients, as Marta discovers.
And it doesn't stop there. What about the attitudes of men - as seen here through one of Sebastien's friends - who suspect women of complicity in their abuse, or use the "windows" despite knowledge of the possibility of coercion and trafficking? And then there's the bureaucracy that makes it seem as though even the people trying to help you are making it as difficult as they can. Marta, given her language difficulties, runs up against this several times in the book.
You might also look at [[Purge by Sofi Oksanen]], a harsh but vivid novel of two women equally hiding from troubled pasts. Big themes of the ex-USSR and the sex industry focus on the horrors borne by women inside a subtle thriller narrative. It's a superb and powerful achievement. You might also appreciate [[Everything You Ever Wanted by Rosalind Wyllie]].
You can read more about Sue Leger [[:Category:Sue Leger|here]].