A Walk Across the Sun

A Walk Across the Sun
	First edition
Author	Corban Addison
Audio read by	Soneela Nankani
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Human trafficking
Genre	Fiction
Publisher	SilverOak
Media type	Print (hardback, paperback), ebook, audiobook
Pages	384 pages
ISBN	1402792808 First edition, hardback

Last updated February 26, 2023

A Walk Across the Sun is a 2012 novel by Corban Addison. It covers the topics of human trafficking, exploitation, and the impact that culture can play on individual relationships and the way society reacts to disparities and injustice.^[1]

Plot

The novel follows two narratives; the first is the story of orphaned teenage sisters Ahalya and Sita. The siblings formerly lived near the coast of Chennai with their family, but decide to go live in a convent after a tsunami leaves them homeless and orphaned. A friend of their dead father offers to take them safely; however, he betrays them and takes them to a trafficker who sells them to a brothel in Mumbai. Ahalya agrees to sleep with the clients at the brothel to protect her younger sister from having to suffer the same fate and allows the son of the brothel owner to sleep with her almost every night. The sisters are disheartened and discouraged; a woman in the brothel tells them that this is their karma and they need to accept it, not fight it.

The second narrative of the novel follows a lawyer named Thomas, who lives in the United States. Thomas is at a low point in both his career and home life. He and his wife Priya have divorced after the death of their firstborn to SIDs. Walking in a park one day, Thomas witnesses a kidnapping and attempts to chase the kidnappers, but he is unable to catch up and the kidnappers get away. This, along with the state of his life, motivates him to take some time off of work and go to Mumbai to help out in an anti-exploitation organization, CASE.

Back in India, the sisters are separated when Sita is purchased in order to transport drugs from India to France. She is forced to be a drug mule and swallow drugs wrapped in condoms and board a plane to Paris. Once there, the drugs are retrieved and Sita is put to work without pay in a restaurant, where the owners of the establishment treat her poorly. Ahalya is rescued by Thomas and CASE after the organization discovers and raids the brothel, freeing the workers. She is sent to live in a convent, while Thomas vows to find Sita. During his work he discovers that his ex-wife is also in India, living with her family. He manages to extract a confession from the brothel owner as to Sita's whereabouts and travels to Paris, only to discover that Sita has been moved once again; she is now living in forced domestic servitude to a wealthy family who mistreats her. Sita attempts to escape, only to be recaptured and once again trafficked.

Thomas manages to track Sita to the wealthy family but only barely misses meeting her, as he catches a glimpse of her in a vehicle as it speeds off. He learns that Sita is being sent the United States and informs the FBI. In the United States, Sita has a difficult time adapting to American culture and to the demands forced upon her by her traffickers. She is forced to pose for porn but is able to avoid being raped by her captors. Her images are discovered on the dark web and the FBI manages to match Sita’s face to a picture. Thomas is able to successfully rescue Sita and reunites the two sisters. He also reconciles with Priya; the two remarry and are soon expecting another child as Thomas continues his work with CASE.

Development

Addison based the fictional institution of CASE on the human rights organization International Justice Mission (JIM). The organization assisted Addison in visiting brothels and other places of exploitation in India, which inspired him to write the book. In the afterword Addison states that raising awareness of modern-day slavery and human trafficking can help abolish modern slavery, and invites readers to support an abolitionist cause or using their skills to help combat human trafficking.^[2]

Publication

A Walk Across the Sun was first published in hardback on January 3, 2012 through SilverOak, alongside an ebook edition and audiobook narrated by Soneela Nankani.^[3]^[4] A mass-market paperback version was released in 2015.^[5]

Reception

Publishers Weekly and the New York Journal of Books reviewed the novel, the latter of which stated that "Providing a treasure chest of prose, culture, nuance, insight, despair, and hope, A Walk Across the Sun is the kind of literature that should be celebrated and honored."^[6]^[7] The Christian Science Monitor also reviewed the work, criticizing the sub-plot of Thomas and Priya's marriage while praising Addison for his research on the slave trade and sexual trafficking.^[8] The Harvard Crimson was critical of the work, noting that while it was an "effective exploration of exploitation" the characters were all stock and the "coincidental events seem overly artificial and undermine the realism of experience."^[9]

Related Research Articles

Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a servile status and sex trafficking persons, such as the sexual trafficking of children.

Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child prostitution is illegal as part of general prohibition on prostitution.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a commercial transaction that involves the sexual exploitation of a child, or person under the age of consent. CSEC involves a range of abuses, including but not limited to: the prostitution of children, child pornography, stripping, erotic massage, phone sex lines, internet-based exploitation, and early forced marriage.

Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Sex traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion as they recruit, transport, and provide their victims as prostitutes. Sometimes victims are brought into a situation of dependency on their trafficker(s), financially or emotionally. Every aspect of sex trafficking is considered a crime, from acquisition to transportation and exploitation of victims. This includes any sexual exploitation of adults or minors, including child sex tourism (CST) and domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST).

Prostitution in Russia is illegal. The punishment for engagement in prostitution is a fine from 1500 up to 2000 rubles. Moreover, organizing prostitution is punishable by a prison term. Prostitution remains a very serious social issue in Russia.

Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" appear in international and humanitarian conventions, such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but have been inconsistently applied. "Forced prostitution" refers to conditions of control over a person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity.

Prostitution is legal and regulated in Bangladesh. Prostitutes must register and state an affidavit stating that they are entering prostitution of their own free choice and that they are unable to find any other work. Bangladeshi prostitutes often suffer poor social conditions and are frequently socially degraded.

Cambodia is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking. The traffickers are reportedly organized crime syndicates, parents, relatives, friends, intimate partners, and neighbors. Despite human trafficking being a crime in Cambodia, the country has a significant child sex tourism problem; some children are sold by their parents, while others are lured by what they think are legitimate job offers like waitressing, but then are forced into prostitution. Children are often held captive, beaten, and starved to force them into prostitution.

Human trafficking in India, although illegal under Indian law, remains a significant problem. People are frequently illegally trafficked through India for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced/bonded labour. Although no reliable study of forced and bonded labour has been completed, NGOs estimate this problem affects 20 to 65 million Indians. Men, women and children are trafficked in India for diverse reasons. Women and girls are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, especially in those areas where the sex ratio is highly skewed in favour of men. Men and boys are trafficked for the purposes of labour, and may be sexually exploited by traffickers to serve as gigolos, massage experts, escorts, etc. A significant portion of children are subjected to forced labour as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups.

In the United States, human trafficking tends to occur around international travel hubs with large immigrant populations, notably in California, Texas, and Georgia. Those trafficked include young children, teenagers, men, and women; victims can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals.

Sex trafficking in Thailand is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Kingdom of Thailand. Thailand is a country of origin, destination, and transit for sex trafficking. Child prostitution in Thailand is a problem. In Thailand, close to 40,000 children under the age of 16 are believed to be in the sex trade, working in clubs, bars, and brothels.

María de los Angeles Verón was 23 when she disappeared on April 3, 2002. Maria was kidnapped on her way to a doctor's appointment in a northern Argentina city and never returned home. She has still not been found. Evidence suggests that she was kidnapped by human traffickers in order to force her into prostitution, and may have been forcibly transported to either La Rioja Province, Argentina or Spain.

Human trafficking in Argentina is the illegal trade in persons for purposes of reproductive slavery, sexual exploitation, forced labor, organ removal, or any form of modern slavery.

North Preston's Finest, also known as NPF, the Scotians, or the North Preston gang, is a gang of pimps based in North Preston, a satellite of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panchakanya</span> Group of five iconic heroines of Hindu epics

The Panchakanya is a group of five iconic women of the Hindu epics, extolled in a hymn and whose names are believed to dispel sin when recited. They are Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara, and Mandodari. While Draupadi and Kunti are from the Mahabharata, Ahalya, Tara, and Mandodari are from the Ramayana. The Panchakanya are regarded to be ideal women who exemplify perfect wives in Hinduism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Falle</span> Canadian academic

Natasha Falle is a Canadian professor at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who was forcibly prostituted from the ages of 15 to 27 and now opposes prostitution in Canada. Falle grew up in a middle-class home and, when her parents divorced, her new single-parent home became unsafe, and Falle ran away from home. At the age of 15, Falle became involved in the sex industry in Calgary, Alberta.

Human trafficking in Nevada is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor as it occurs in the state of Nevada, and it is widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery. It includes "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

Sex trafficking in the United States is a form of human trafficking which involves reproductive slavery or commercial sexual exploitation as it occurs in the United States. Sex trafficking includes the transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or force into exploitative and slavery-like conditions. It is commonly associated with organized crime.

Sex trafficking in China is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the People's Republic of China. China, the world's most populous country, has the second highest number of human trafficking victims in the world. It is a country of origin, destination, and transit for sexually trafficked persons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking in Vietnam</span>

Sex trafficking in Vietnam is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam is a source and, to a lesser extent, destination country for sexually trafficked persons.

References

↑ "Corban Addison: A Walk Across the Dark Side". The Bookseller. January 31, 2012. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
↑ Addison, Corban (2015). Walk Across the Sun. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. ISBN 978-1-4434-4624-2. OCLC 1015682939.
↑ Addison, Corban, 1979- (2014), A walk across the sun : a novel, CNIB, ISBN 978-0-616-78277-4, OCLC 1012119368 {{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ Addison, Corban, 1979- (2012). A walk across the sun : a novel . New York, NY: SilverOak. ISBN 978-1-4027-9280-9. OCLC 711041837.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ Addison, Corban, 1979- (30 June 2015). A walk across the sun : a novel. Toronto. ISBN 978-1-4434-4624-2. OCLC 915043611.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ "Fiction Book Review: A Walk Across the Sun". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
↑ Constans, Gabriel. "a book review by Gabriel Constans: A Walk Across the Sun". New York Journal of Books. Archived from the original on 2016-08-06. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
↑ "3 new novels for a new year". Christian Science Monitor. 2012-01-12. ISSN 0882-7729 . Retrieved 2020-01-24.
↑ Chow, Yi Jean (March 27, 2012). "Addison's 'Walk' a Trite but Effective Exploration of Exploitation". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2020-01-24.

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[1] "Corban Addison: A Walk Across the Dark Side". The Bookseller. January 31, 2012. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-01-24.

[:0-2] Addison, Corban (2015). Walk Across the Sun. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. ISBN 978-1-4434-4624-2. OCLC 1015682939.

[3] Addison, Corban, 1979- (2014), A walk across the sun : a novel, CNIB, ISBN 978-0-616-78277-4, OCLC 1012119368 {{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[4] Addison, Corban, 1979- (2012). A walk across the sun : a novel . New York, NY: SilverOak. ISBN 978-1-4027-9280-9. OCLC 711041837.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[5] Addison, Corban, 1979- (30 June 2015). A walk across the sun : a novel. Toronto. ISBN 978-1-4434-4624-2. OCLC 915043611.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[6] "Fiction Book Review: A Walk Across the Sun". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2020-01-24.

[7] Constans, Gabriel. "a book review by Gabriel Constans: A Walk Across the Sun". New York Journal of Books. Archived from the original on 2016-08-06. Retrieved 2020-01-24.

[8] "3 new novels for a new year". Christian Science Monitor. 2012-01-12. ISSN 0882-7729 . Retrieved 2020-01-24.

[9] Chow, Yi Jean (March 27, 2012). "Addison's 'Walk' a Trite but Effective Exploration of Exploitation". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2020-01-24.

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