Her fate is a domestic prison in an alien world

In Slave, Mende Nazer has written a straightforward, harrowing memoir. Born into the Karko tribe in the Nuba mountains of northern Sudan, her story first concentrates on Nazer’s idyllic childhood. In 1994, Mende, age 12, was snatched by Arab raiders, raped and shipped to the nation’s capital, Khartoum, where she was installed as a maid for a wealthy suburban family.

She’d never seen a spoon, a mirror or a sink, much less a televison or a phone. The pampered housewife, affluent, petty and cruel, beat her frequently and dehumanized her in dozens of ways. After seven years, Nazer accompanied the family, as a “maid” to Great Britian. She was able to contact other Sudanese and eventually escaped to freedom. Her book is a profound meditation on the human ability to survive virtually any circumstances.

Slavery still exists today and needs to be stamped out