A Walk Across the Sun

In his debut novel, lawyer Addison uncovers the labyrinthine underside of human trafficking in this dazzling transcontinental story about the power of conviction, the bonds of family, and the tenacity of love. After a tsunami in India tragically orphans 17-year old Ahalya Ghai and her 15-year-old sister, Sita, the girls are kidnapped and taken to a Mumbai brothel where their nightmare begins. Meanwhile, D.C.-based attorney Thomas Clarke faces marital and career crises. His wife, Priya, returns to her family in India when her grandmother dies, Thomas’s demanding legal career and the SIDS death of their infant daughter having taken their toll. Assuming the blame for a headline-grabbing legal debacle, Thomas accepts his firm’s offer to take a paid sabbatical and work on a pro bono case overseas. He ends up in Mumbai working for CASE (Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation). When CASE comes to rescue Ahalya, the sisters are separated, and Sita must go to Paris (and later, America) as a drug mule, as her owners try to elude their pursuers. In addition to Ahalya and Sita’s timely story, Addison’s portrait of Thomas and Priya’s tenuous relationship skillfully reveals the difficulty of inter-cultural marriage. The novel successfully explicates the magnitude of the human trafficking business, the complexities of international legalities, and the impact of the Internet’s role in this horrifying underworld. (Jan.)