"Originally published in France as Le silence de l'innocence by Editions Anne Carrière, Paris, in 2005"--T.p. verso

Born in a Cambodian village, Somaly Mam was sold into sexual slavery by her grandfather at age twelve. For the next decade she was shuttled through the brothels that make up the sprawling sex trade of Southeast Asia. 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. This book 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 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.--From publisher description