The Road of Lost Innocence: As a girl she was sold into sexual slavery, but now she rescues others. The true story of a Cambodian heroine. [Hardcover]

Somaly Mam (Author), Ruth Marshall (Collaborator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0385526210 | ISBN-13: 978-0385526210 | Publication Date: September 9, 2008

A portion of the proceeds of this book will be donated to the Somaly Mam Foundation.

A riveting, raw, and beautiful memoir of tragedy and hope

Born in a village deep in the Cambodian forest, Somaly Mam was sold into sexual slavery by her grandfather when she was twelve years old. For the next decade she was shuttled through the brothels that make up the sprawling sex trade of Southeast Asia. Trapped in this dangerous and desperate world, she suffered the brutality and horrors of human trafficking—rape, torture, deprivation—until she managed to escape with the help of a French aid worker. Emboldened by her newfound freedom, education, and security, Somaly blossomed but remained haunted by the girls in the brothels she left behind.
Written in exquisite, spare, unflinching prose, The Road of Lost Innocence recounts the experiences of her early life and tells the story of her awakening as an activist and her harrowing and brave fight against the powerful and corrupt forces that steal the lives of these girls. She has orchestrated raids on brothels and rescued sex workers, some as young as five and six; she has built shelters, started schools, and founded an organization that has so far saved more than four thousand women and children in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. Her memoir will leave you awestruck by her tenacity and courage and will renew your faith in the power of an individual to bring about change.

To learn more about how you can help fight human trafficking, visit the foundation’s website: www.somaly.org.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The horror and violence perpetrated on young girls to feed the sex trade industry in southeast Asia is personalized in this graphic story. Of mixed race, Khmer and Phnong, Mam is living on her own in the forest in northern Cambodia around 1980 when a 55-year-old stranger claims he will take her to her missing family. Grandfather beats and abuses the nine-year-old Mam and sells her virginity to a Chinese merchant to cover a gambling debt. She is subsequently sold into a brothel in Phnom Penh, and the daily suffering and humiliation she endures is almost impossible to imagine or absorb (I was dead. I had no affection for anyone). She recounts recalcitrant girls being tortured and killed, and police collusion and government involvement in the sex trade; she manages to break the cycle only when she discovers the advantages of ferengi (foreign) clients and eventually marries a Frenchman. She comes back to Cambodia from France, now unafraid, and with her husband, Pierre; sets up a charity, AFESIP, action for women in distressing circumstances; and fearlessly devotes herself to helping prostitutes and exploited children. The statistics are shocking: one in every 40 Cambodian girls (some as young as five) will be sold into sex slavery. Mam brings to the fore the AIDS crisis, the belief that sex with a virgin will cure the disease and the Khmer tradition of women's obedience and servitude. This moving, disturbing tale is not one of redemption but a cry for justice and support for women's plight everywhere. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

Sold into slavery as a young girl—first as an indentured servant to a surly, violent older man, then, at 16, to a brothel—Mam could have lived a life of misery and defeat. Instead, she found freedom and security while keeping her remarkable spirit intact. This unflinching, searing memoir tells Mam’s story, from her early childhood as an orphan in the mountains of Cambodia to her current role as cofounder and president of the AFESIP (Acting for Women in Distressing Circumstances) and the Somaly Mam foundations, which have rescued more than 3,400 women and children throughout Southeast Asia. Mam’s voice is humble, matter-of-fact, and wrenchingly real. Her passionate refusal to let other girls suffer as she did spurs her to action. She began by gathering money to help distribute birth control as a precaution against AIDS, then moved on to rescue young women and girls, taking them into a shelter and teaching them employable skills—all against extraordinary odds. The story of Mam, nearly a twenty-first-century Mother Teresa, both inspires and calls to action. --Emily Cook

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 193 pages
• Publisher: Spiegel & Grau (September 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385526210
• ISBN-13: 978-0385526210
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Devastating story of a woman's rise from a life of abuse to rescue others, September 19, 2008

By 

Christina Lockstein "Christy's Book Blog" (Oconto Falls, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Road of Lost Innocence: As a girl she was sold into sexual slavery, but now she rescues others. The true story of a Cambodian heroine. (Hardcover)

The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam is a heart-breaking story of a woman's fight out of slavery and her quest to save others from suffering as she did. Somaly was raised in the forests of Cambodia in a primitive tribe without electricity or running water. Living in the remote jungles, her parents abandoned her and left her with a grandmother who then died before Somaly could remember any of them. She raised herself until the age of eleven, sleeping in a hammock, fishing for some meals, and receiving some little care from the rest of the villagers. At eleven, a man claiming to be her grandfather took her to a larger city and used her as slave labor, beating her and forcing her to work for others as well. She learned how to read at a small school run by a man who claimed to be her uncle and tried to do his weak best by her. At fifteen, her grandfather sold her into a violent marriage with a soldier, until he disappeared, and the grandfather appeared again to sell her into a brothel in Phnom Phen. There Somaly was raped and beaten until all of her will was driven out of her, and the fight to survive overcame the desire to be free. Eventually a French aid worker came to her aid, and Somaly was able to break free of this devastating life. But Somaly is more than the average women. She was unwilling to let other women suffer as she did, so she began distributing condoms to the brothels, and then opened a home to take in girls who fled their life of forced prostitution. She has faced threats, including the kidnapping of one of her daughters, but has emerged unwilling to bend again. Her story is amazing and awful, not something that is easily considered. It's much easier to skim over the details and refuse to internalize them. But when I read about men raping 5 and 6 year old girls and then pimps sewing the girls up again so they can be sold as "virgins", and then look at my own 5-1/2 year old daughter, my heart is broken. I can't imagine the degradation that these girls suffer daily. Somaly tells her story in raw, harsh words. They are not prettied up, nor does she gloss over what she has faced. This book needs to be read to expose the world to the truths about what is going on in Cambodia to these young girls. A portion of the profits from this book go to Somaly's charity that helps free girls from their abuse, and I know that her foundation is one that I will be donating to in the future.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This woman is amazing, September 15, 2008

By 

Ann Olswang - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road of Lost Innocence: As a girl she was sold into sexual slavery, but now she rescues others. The true story of a Cambodian heroine. (Hardcover)

Wow. I want to say there are no words to describe what this book will make you feel, but I'm going to try anyway.
Somaly Mam is the kind of person we all hope we could be, were we faced with the horrors she has lived. Sexual slavery, rape, abuse - she survived all these and has been brave enough to share her story with us. She recounts her experiences in a raw, unflinching tone, experiences which could break the strongest of us. And although Somaly escaped her own dark path, she has never left that world behind, but instead returns time and again to rescue other girls trapped in brothels, girls sometimes as young as four or five, girls who have been sold into sexual slavery.
Her story is amazing, the world she describes is horrifying, and in the end if you have not been moved to tears, then you are not human.
But this book is not just intended as a voyeuristic window into a world we should condemn. It is a necessary education for those of us who are lucky enough to live in a world where sexual slavery is a remote problem. And if, like me, you finish the book and find yourself enraged at what is being done, then you might do what I did and google her name, and find her foundation's website: www.somaly.org. There is something we can all do to help, and after reading this book you just might need to.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!!!!!, September 16, 2008

By 

Stacey (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Road of Lost Innocence: As a girl she was sold into sexual slavery, but now she rescues others. The true story of a Cambodian heroine. (Hardcover)

"The Road to Lost Innocence" by Somaly Mam touched me so deeply that I must recommend this novel! Her writing style is simple and easy to grasp, allowing the reader to become so engrossed in this tragic and compelling story. She brings Cambodia to life through its interesting foods, fascinating customs and graphic description of the ethnic separation of the people. Through her words, I have sampled the region's oppression under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Her descriptions of the horrors of being torn away from everything familiar at the age of 9 or 10 by a stranger that promised to reunite Somaly with her parents were tempered by shining moments of kindness and hope in the midst of this tragic existence, revealing God's care and provision.

This book takes you through the tragedy that was Somaly's life to where she escaped and now rescues others. It made me smile. It made me weep. It made me angry. It made me think of (and pray for) all the people trapped in the sex slavery trade. It made me realize that I don't have a care in the world compared to those who are victimized by this very real horror everyday. It made me want to make a difference. I pray it makes you want to change the world, too.