Wow, this book is written so well about child trafficking and the illegal sextrade in India.
Caroline and Kamal meet, fall in in love and have Asha. Circumstances mean they leave her with foster-parents and they resume single life.
Unbeknownst to Caroline and Kamal that all has changed in India.
Sharon has carefully written about the issue these poor children faced and the struggle that agencies face in a currupt society.
A powerful read.

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this eCopy to review

I recently finished reading Girl in a Red Silk Sari by Sharon Maas, and I must say, it was an unforgettable experience. This novel is a poignant and gripping tale that delves deep into the complexities of love, loss, and redemption.

The story follows Caroline Mitchell, who returns to India in search of her missing daughter, Asha. Caroline's journey is fraught with emotional turmoil as she navigates the labyrinthine streets of Mumbai and confronts the dark realities of child trafficking. Her estranged husband, Kamal, joins her in this desperate quest, and together they face unimaginable challenges. The narrative is heart-wrenching, especially as Caroline discovers that Asha has been caught in a trafficking ring. The novel beautifully portrays Caroline's transformation as she fights to save her daughter and heal the wounds of her past .

From the moment I started reading, I was captivated by Maas's evocative writing and the depth of her characters. Caroline's determination and resilience are inspiring, and her journey is both heart breaking and uplifting. The depiction of Mumbai's red-light district is chilling, yet Maas handles the subject matter with sensitivity and grace.

The emotional intensity of the novel is balanced by moments of hope and love, making it a compelling read. The bond between Caroline and Asha is beautifully portrayed, and the supporting characters, like Kamal and Janiki, add richness to the story. Maas's ability to weave a tale that is both tragic and hopeful is truly remarkable.

Girl in a Red Silk Sari is a powerful story, with well-developed characters, and an incredible emotional journey. This book is a must-read for anyone who appreciates deeply moving and beautifully written fiction.

Deeply profound and thought provoking book about child trafficking,  prostitution, the beauty of India and it's dark side.  Caroline, a white woman from America has always been in love with the thought of living in India. She meets Kamal and all her dreams come true. Except, India doesn't prove to be what she always had in mind. She struggles with adapting and with connecting with her daughter Asha. Asha stays behind while Caroline moves back to America and her father Kamal works very far away from her. But things turn for the worse when Asha's adoptive family die and she is sold off. Her biological parents must go through hell and back in order to find and save Asha.

Thank you Netgalley and Storm Publishing!

Caroline Mitchell had always felt an intense love for India. Then, as the fates would have it, she fell in love with a man from India, who was in the U.S. earning his college degree. Caroline & Kamal got married and then moved to India, where she would do research to finish up her degree, and Kamal got a very lucrative job at a dam. The only problem was, they would not be able to live togther - he would need to live near his work, so he found a family for her to live with for the next few years. When Caroline becomes pregnant, they consider changing their plans, but decide to stay on course. When baby Asha arrives, Caroline fails to bond with her. She can't get Asha to latch on, so the woman she is staying with ends up being Asha's wet nurse. Asha loves spending time with their kids as she grows older and she continues to rebuff all attention that Caroline tries to give her. Caroline ends up becoming very ill and goes back to the U.S. to recouperate, never to return. She and Kamal separate, but he has little to do with Asha as well, so she is raised by the Indian family that she now considers her true family. When tragedy strikes, and thirteen-year-old Asha disappears without a trace, Caroline and Kamal must join forces and become the parents they should have been all along to Asha, find her, and bring her home.

This book was so good. It was heartbreaking, depressing, and dealt with stomach turning issues like child traffiicking and child abuse. My heart went out to Asha and all of the other young girls in the book. The story kept me on the edge of my seat for most of the book, anxious to see how it would all play out. I highly recommend this one!

This is the first book that I have read by Sharon Maas but hopefully it wont be the last.
Caroline comes from a wealthy American family, since childhood she has dreamed of India, the India of storybooks with Princes in their palaces and riding elephants.
When at university she met and fell in love with Kamal who came from a wealthy Indian family, neither of the families were in agreement with the relationship but Caroline and Kamal were so much in love that they quietly got married and moved to India.
In order to get her degree, Caroline was writing a thesis on the Tamil way of life, Kamal had arrange for her to live with a Tamil family in a small village but unfortunately it was five hours from where he was working as an engineer on a dam.
Sundari and Vikram Inengar were well educated and they spoke perfect English, they were very welcoming to Caroline but this was not the India of her dreams, this was the reality, the facilities were less than basic, Caroline coped at first but when a child, Asha, was born Caroline struggled, she found bonding difficult because she was out of her depth, she became very ill, the only answer was to return to America leaving Asha to be raised by Sundari and her daughter Janaki.
Ten years later tragedy occurred, Sundari and Vikram were killed in a car crash, Caroline was still in America (although she still kept in touch) as was Janaki, Kamal was working in the far north, Asha fate was with Vikram's greedy brother.
This story follows the unbelievable, cruel and very sad life of Asha as she is sold on the dark web by unscrupulous individuals and bought by perverted men and Caroline, Kamal and Janaki's desperate fight against time to find her,
The author has written a powerful, emotional story that tells of the two sides of India and it's class system, the wealthy in their mansions and palaces and the very poor, who often end up being trafficked or forced into prostitution, this is a story that pulls on the heartstrings.
Thank you Storm Publishing for this ARC, this review is my own.

For a book with one of the most emotive and horrifying themes imaginable, 'Girl in a Red Silk Sari' left me oddly unmoved. Set mostly in the early 2000s, it tells the story of the desperate search for a thirteen year old girl sold into prostitution in Mumbai. Asha, the child in question, has grown up with a loving foster family, her parents - white American Caroline and diffident wealthy Indian Kamal - being overseas. When her foster parents die suddenly and Asha is sold off, her biological parents and adult foster-sister Janaki travel to the notorious red-light district of Kamathipura in a seemingly hopeless rescue attempt. It is Janaki's knowledge of the relatively new internet that provides their best chance of finding the missing girl.

It's a good idea for a story and a powerful, upsetting topic. Sadly although the story is fiction, the trafficking and exploitation underlying it are only too real. On the plus side, it is very compelling, the short chapters ideal for the 'I'll just read one more' phenomenon that keeps you reading half the night. But aside from that, I never formed an emotional connection with any of the characters. The most interesting and sympathetic is Janaki. Caroline I found incredibly annoying, selfish and stupid - despite her being the supposed heroine of the novel. Asha is completely two dimensional - the scenes with her as a child are badly judged, with her coming across as much younger than her age, and we never get to know and love her as anything other than a cardboard cut out of a trafficked child.

Maas can write compellingly, but she lacks that special touch that the best writers have to make characters come alive or to infuse her prose with wit and sparkle. I'm not a fan of 'show-off' writing that is more style than substance, but good writers have a nice way of putting things that makes the words more readable than if written by the average person with a good command of language. That is forgivable if a story is extremely well plotted or the characters are very loveable, but that's not the case here. From the start I found it implausible that a woman with a degree in South Asian studies and was married to an Indian would be so ignorant about India. Having a romanticised view of a country is one thing, but surely even someone with the most basic knowledge of the world would not be surprised to find India hot, busy, and with areas of financial poverty. I also found the ending to be far too neat and simplistic.

If you enjoy compelling stories that don't put you through an emotional wringer, this would be a decent choice. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend it. There are many better books set in India and by Indian authors.

Sharon Maas paints a vivid picture of the different faces of India, from riches to slums and the seedy underbelly of the big cities the book transports you to the heat, the dust and the smells. The story itself is simply told, full of emotional turmoil and questionable decisions and the characters are beautifully written. This is a thought provoking read.

Caroline is in love with India from childhood. she decided that when she grew up she was going to go and live there. She eventually marries Kamal, and they move to India. Her to complete her studies and her husband for work. They have to live apart for their goals. Caroline very quickly finds it is not the India of her childhood dreams. Then she gets pregnant and struggles to cope and bond with her daughter Asha and Kamal is still working away.
The book touches on some difficult issues and there is a nice follow to the writing.

Thank you to Storm Publishing and Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions are my own.
This is such a powerful story! It takes place in Madras, India and involves prostitution and human trafficking. Caroline and Kamal are trying desperately to rescue their daughter Asha. Lots of suspense and uncertainty as they go on this journey. This story is very well-written with lots of details and unforgettable characters. Highly recommend!

A brilliant book that is a very emotional read with its subject being child prostitution in India and the horrendous consequences. Well researched over many years to create an enlightening story that both shocks and educates. Thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

This book is a re-release of The Lost Daughter Of India. It tells a highly descriptive story of an American woman who believes that she wants to live in India only to marry, have a child and then realise that this life is not for her. Her husband moves away too leaving their daughter with their friends and then it all goes wrong. Sad yet inspiring story which very aptly describes the dichotomies of India - extreme wealth next to abject poverty, the different languages of the country and so English is spoken to be understood, the casual way children are used and abused especially for money. This may make it sound like a sad book however it is anything but !! Really enjoyed reading it.


Thanks to Netgalley / Storm for the ARC to review

This was an intense story, focusing on child trafficking. While it was a quick read, I found it a bit lacking in character development. But it's very atmospheric.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. I have even bought a few copies for friends.

This story had potential where a young girl is trafficked into the underbelly of an Indian city with the people who care about her desperately searching for her. I have been travelling to India for many years and was excited to read this book. Unfortunately I found there was too much repetition and the characters weren’t very credible. As a mother I don’t think I would be dining in The Taj hotel while my child was missing. I don’t think it’s credible that every person searching for the girl slept the moment their heads hit their pillows! There were too many inconsistencies in the timelines and motivations. Would a hardened, wily madam whose sole business was providing young girls to the most despicable men in Mumbai suddenly have a change of heart and give the girl up? Sorry but these aforementioned irritants make this only a three star read for me.

This book really pulled me in. It tells the heartbreaking story of Asha, a mixed-race teenager who ends up in the dangerous world of Mumbai’s red-light district after losing her foster parents. Her birth parents, who had a complicated past, are forced to come together to try and save her.

The story is emotional and eye-opening, especially about the reality of child trafficking. Sharon Maas does a great job showing both the beauty and the harshness of India. The characters feel real, and the message is powerful—about family, love, and never giving up.

This was a great read, especially because it exposed the story behind child trafficking and prostitution in India. It was an interesting story because of the cross cultural connection, American wife and Indian husband, then the child who was more attached to the Indian family where they resided. The tension rises after Asha is left with no family and is desirable as a child companion. I especially enjoyed Janaki's cleverness in tracking things through the internet, in 1997. An informative and entertaining read. Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for a copy to read and review, and for introducing me to another new author who has work that I would like to read.

A very deep and emotional read indeed!! This was the first book I have read by this author and I loved her style. Extremely easy to follow as it flowed well, learning lots about Indian traditions and obviously the harrowing insight into an extremely terrifying subject matter. There was lots of love felt throughout this story with twists and turns along the way to keep you gripped. Well worth the read.

Thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy to read in exchange for my open and honest review. As always, my reviews will also be posted on Amazon, Goodreads and Waterstones and interaction on Facebook and instagram where possible.

Girl in a Red Silk Sari is a gripping and emotional journey that delves into the harrowing world of child trafficking, set against the vibrant yet often brutal backdrop of Mumbai. Sharon Maas weaves a story that is as heart-wrenching as it is captivating, exploring the depth of parental love, the resilience of the human spirit, and the search for hope in the face of overwhelming odds.

Thirteen-year-old Asha’s life takes a tragic turn when her foster parents are killed in an accident, and she is abducted by child traffickers. Her parents, Caroline and Kamal, are reunited in their desperate mission to find their daughter, who has been sold into the cruel world of Mumbai’s Red-Light District. Asha is now a high-value commodity, sold to the highest bidder, and her parents must navigate the chaos of the city to locate her. The task is daunting, but with the help of Asha’s street-smart foster sister, Janiki, they gain renewed strength and hope in their search.

Maas’s portrayal of Mumbai’s underworld is both vivid and unsettling, creating a palpable sense of urgency and tension throughout the book. The journey to rescue Asha is fraught with danger, but it also highlights the powerful bonds of family and the unyielding determination that drives Caroline, Kamal, and Janiki forward. The character of Asha, despite being lost in the anonymity of the city, is never forgotten, and Maas does a brilliant job of showing how love can transcend distance and darkness.

The emotional depth of the book is its greatest strength. Caroline and Kamal’s unwavering love for their daughter, even after years of separation, is the driving force of the narrative. Janiki’s role adds an extra layer of complexity and strength to the story

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

An excellent read for any and all readers! Author comes at you with both barrels and knocks you out of your shoes! Great job fleshing out all the characters. I give this book FIVE stars! Definitely recommend!

Girl in a Red Silk Sari is a gripping, heart-wrenching journey that kept me hooked from start to finish. Caroline’s search for her missing daughter, Asha, in the dark corners of Mumbai is both emotional and suspenseful. The vivid descriptions of the city’s red-light district and the harrowing realities of human trafficking create an intense atmosphere that pulls you in. Caroline's determination to reconnect with her estranged husband and confront her painful past adds a deeply personal layer to the story. The twists and turns kept me on edge, and the emotional payoff was powerful. This novel is a beautifully written, emotional rollercoaster that I won’t soon forget.