--- product_id: 6530502 title: "SOLD" price: "B/.29" currency: PAB in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/6530502-sold store_origin: PA region: Panama --- # SOLD **Price:** B/.29 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** SOLD - **How much does it cost?** B/.29 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.pa](https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/6530502-sold) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST This poignant, bestselling verse novel gives voice to a young girl robbed of her childhood yet determined to find the strength to triumph. Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family. He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi journeys to India and arrives at “Happiness House” full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution. An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family's debt-then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave. Lakshmi's life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother's words— Simply to endure is to triumph —and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision-will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life? Written in spare and evocative vignettes by the co-author of I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition) , this powerful novel renders a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs. “Hard-hitting ... The author beautifully balances the harshness of brothel life with the poignant relationships among its residents.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An unforgettable account of sexual slavery as it exists now.” — Booklist (starred review) Publishers Weekly Best 100 Books of the Year NPR’s Best Books of the Year American Library Association Top Ten List, Best Books of the Year Gustav-Heinemann Peace Prize Booklist Editor’s Choice Award New York Public Library Best Books for Teens Children’s Literature Council’s Choice Book Sense Pick Review: Extremely Impressionable: You Won't Forget This Novel - I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the horrors of the sexual slavery industry in an intimate way. This was one of the first books I read on sexual slavery, and it continues to be one that had the most lasting impression on me. Because of this, I embarked on a research journey to discover more about this barbaric industry. Patricia McCormick wrote this book in free-versed vignettes, giving readers childlike snippets of the main character, Lakshmi’s, life. Lakshmi is a composite character, meaning the events that happened to her may not have happened to one person, but the events are true. McCormick personally interviewed sexual slavery survivors in Nepal and Calcutta, India to gather accurate information for this book. Each vignette goes through different stages in Lakshmi's life, ranging from her small-town life before being sold, to her living conditions in the brothel. Although the novel is written in a simplistic manner, the content is anything but simple. McCormick’s style of writing is powerful and moving, and I experienced myriad emotions while reading this novel. Because of the intimate style of writing, and the honesty and reality of how the events are presented, I felt as if I were next to Lakshmi, battling the pain and horrors life presented to her on a daily basis. While reading Sold, you’ll be angered by the abuse, yet glad to see how Lakshmi triumphed through the nightmare of sexual slavery. The ending is somewhat of a cliffhanger, but you’ll know that Lakshmi will no longer be subjected to the brothels. Sold is graphic enough, but it mainly exposes the emotions and personality of Lakshmi. McCormick illustrates Lakshmi as the person inside every sexual slavery victim, and how she won’t allow her spirit and gumption of survival to die. It is easy to see why Sold is National Book Award Finalist. McCormick is highly deserving of the accolades she has received, and continues to receive, for this novel. Review: The Underbelly of Female Sexual Slavery - SOLD started out slowly. I was beginning to doubt my possible interest until I was about 25 percent into the book. Then, I couldn't quit: I had to stay up past my bed time to finish it in one read. I was saddened enough to learn of the squalid conditions of Lakshmi's life in her home country of Nepal, but once her stepfather insisted she be "sold" to be a maid (sic) to help the family out financially is when the drama really begins. (Of course, had he been more financially responsible, Lakshmi wouldn't have needed to help provide or the family.) Lakshmi, age 13, doesn't really know the motives of her handler/s until she gets to Calcutta, India. The journey to her place of "employment" is arduous, with lots of twists and turns. Because she is starting to feel uneasy, she wants to remember the way back home--just in case--but it "is like trying to clutch a handful of fog." Yet, she has a feeling of duty to her mother, Ama, so she also tries to forget her uneasiness, which is "like trying to hold back the monsoon." Her employer, and now owner, is Mumtaz who has deceived her and her parents about the real objective of Laksmi's employment as a sex slave in a house ironically called "The Happiness House." This is where quickie sex is had for 30 rupies (about 50 cents), the then-cost of a can of Coca-Cola. Her step father bargained her away for 600 rupies ($11.00)--with the promise of more--and she was sold again until her value reached 10,000 rubies ($185), but her female, slave-holding employer places 20,000 rubies ($370) on the books as her debt--to cover all expenses: food, heat, medical shots and such. Even when these enslaved girls (some women) are "free" they are not. One "worker" in this slave trade thought her parents "would honor and thank [her]." Instead when her parents heard she was coming home, "They met [her] outside the village and begged [her] not to come back and disgrace them." And they told this daughter of theirs that they had told the girl's own child that her mother was dead, as a way of explaining her absence. And these are the parents who sold her into this condition! As I read the latter part of the book I was filled with shame and anger about my fellow males. How COULD they desire a child to get their sexual kicks or superstitiously believe such copulation would heal them of an ailment?! And I was filled with sadness about the treatment of the female sex (child or adult). This book was researched in 2005-plus when "12,000 Nepali [only] girls were sold by their families, unwittingly--that's the only saving grace--into a life of sexual slavery in the brothels of India" (p. 165). And that is just a portion of the half million so sold worldwide. As one book jacket blub states: "This is a hard-hitting...poignant book." Although it is written like an autobiography it is really a compilation of the terrible horror these young girls go through--and sometimes never escape. And, worse yet, sometimes become part of the system...because who else wants them? About a year ago I heard of this phenomenon and gave $100 to the cause, and it's time to do it again. I also recently met a beautiful twenty-something Nepali-American woman and mentioned this practice to her. She had probably been upper-class in Nepal and denied the practice and had never heard of it. Obviously, only the very poor are approached. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,330 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction on Sexual Abuse (Books) #4 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction on Physical & Emotional Abuse (Books) #13 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction on Girls' & Women's Issues (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 3,478 Reviews | ## Images ![SOLD - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61NiFw4L1YL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extremely Impressionable: You Won't Forget This Novel *by J***R on April 19, 2015* I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the horrors of the sexual slavery industry in an intimate way. This was one of the first books I read on sexual slavery, and it continues to be one that had the most lasting impression on me. Because of this, I embarked on a research journey to discover more about this barbaric industry. Patricia McCormick wrote this book in free-versed vignettes, giving readers childlike snippets of the main character, Lakshmi’s, life. Lakshmi is a composite character, meaning the events that happened to her may not have happened to one person, but the events are true. McCormick personally interviewed sexual slavery survivors in Nepal and Calcutta, India to gather accurate information for this book. Each vignette goes through different stages in Lakshmi's life, ranging from her small-town life before being sold, to her living conditions in the brothel. Although the novel is written in a simplistic manner, the content is anything but simple. McCormick’s style of writing is powerful and moving, and I experienced myriad emotions while reading this novel. Because of the intimate style of writing, and the honesty and reality of how the events are presented, I felt as if I were next to Lakshmi, battling the pain and horrors life presented to her on a daily basis. While reading Sold, you’ll be angered by the abuse, yet glad to see how Lakshmi triumphed through the nightmare of sexual slavery. The ending is somewhat of a cliffhanger, but you’ll know that Lakshmi will no longer be subjected to the brothels. Sold is graphic enough, but it mainly exposes the emotions and personality of Lakshmi. McCormick illustrates Lakshmi as the person inside every sexual slavery victim, and how she won’t allow her spirit and gumption of survival to die. It is easy to see why Sold is National Book Award Finalist. McCormick is highly deserving of the accolades she has received, and continues to receive, for this novel. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Underbelly of Female Sexual Slavery *by J***K on January 1, 2012* SOLD started out slowly. I was beginning to doubt my possible interest until I was about 25 percent into the book. Then, I couldn't quit: I had to stay up past my bed time to finish it in one read. I was saddened enough to learn of the squalid conditions of Lakshmi's life in her home country of Nepal, but once her stepfather insisted she be "sold" to be a maid (sic) to help the family out financially is when the drama really begins. (Of course, had he been more financially responsible, Lakshmi wouldn't have needed to help provide or the family.) Lakshmi, age 13, doesn't really know the motives of her handler/s until she gets to Calcutta, India. The journey to her place of "employment" is arduous, with lots of twists and turns. Because she is starting to feel uneasy, she wants to remember the way back home--just in case--but it "is like trying to clutch a handful of fog." Yet, she has a feeling of duty to her mother, Ama, so she also tries to forget her uneasiness, which is "like trying to hold back the monsoon." Her employer, and now owner, is Mumtaz who has deceived her and her parents about the real objective of Laksmi's employment as a sex slave in a house ironically called "The Happiness House." This is where quickie sex is had for 30 rupies (about 50 cents), the then-cost of a can of Coca-Cola. Her step father bargained her away for 600 rupies ($11.00)--with the promise of more--and she was sold again until her value reached 10,000 rubies ($185), but her female, slave-holding employer places 20,000 rubies ($370) on the books as her debt--to cover all expenses: food, heat, medical shots and such. Even when these enslaved girls (some women) are "free" they are not. One "worker" in this slave trade thought her parents "would honor and thank [her]." Instead when her parents heard she was coming home, "They met [her] outside the village and begged [her] not to come back and disgrace them." And they told this daughter of theirs that they had told the girl's own child that her mother was dead, as a way of explaining her absence. And these are the parents who sold her into this condition! As I read the latter part of the book I was filled with shame and anger about my fellow males. How COULD they desire a child to get their sexual kicks or superstitiously believe such copulation would heal them of an ailment?! And I was filled with sadness about the treatment of the female sex (child or adult). This book was researched in 2005-plus when "12,000 Nepali [only] girls were sold by their families, unwittingly--that's the only saving grace--into a life of sexual slavery in the brothels of India" (p. 165). And that is just a portion of the half million so sold worldwide. As one book jacket blub states: "This is a hard-hitting...poignant book." Although it is written like an autobiography it is really a compilation of the terrible horror these young girls go through--and sometimes never escape. And, worse yet, sometimes become part of the system...because who else wants them? About a year ago I heard of this phenomenon and gave $100 to the cause, and it's time to do it again. I also recently met a beautiful twenty-something Nepali-American woman and mentioned this practice to her. She had probably been upper-class in Nepal and denied the practice and had never heard of it. Obviously, only the very poor are approached. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Compelling yet disturbing read *by G***. on May 1, 2026* Good book, completing story, a very disturbing read but necessary to expose these victimizations. The writing format wasn’t for me, the book could be 1/2 the length. ## Frequently Bought Together - SOLD - The Bluest Eye (Vintage International) - The Handmaid's Tale --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/6530502-sold](https://www.desertcart.com.pa/products/6530502-sold) --- *Product available on Desertcart Panama* *Store origin: PA* *Last updated: 2026-05-24*