In this complicated and fascinating new novel, readers follow Caroline Mitchell and her daughter Asha’s difficult journeys and relationships. Having fallen in love with India and met her husband there, Caroline struggles to make peace with her past and move on with her life, and this affects her relationship with her daughter, largely raised by another family. When thirteen-year-old Asha disappears in Mumbai, Caroline travels halfway around the world to find her and vows to do anything, even reunite with her estranged husband Kamal, to bring her daughter home. Navigating the busy and corrupt areas of Mumbai, Caroline undergoes a tremendous personal journey in her attempt to rescue Asha from the city’s red-light district. With an intense emotional storyline and difficult questions about parenting and protection, this book really challenges readers to think with the characters and empathize with both Asha and Caroline. The characters are fairly complex, as are the settings and locations, and the characters’ relationships with other characters are the center of the story as the characters and their relationships grow and change as the novel progresses. Interesting, emotional, and intense, readers should be advised for discussions of child trafficking and prostitution throughout the overall well-written book and adjust accordingly.

“Girl in a Red Silk Sari” is a beautifully written, yet deeply moving story of love, loss, the difficulties of motherhood and the darker side of a foreign country. What makes it special is the sensitivity with which Sharon Maas tackles a very real, serious subject – without sensationalism. She doesn't shock with detailed, naturalistic descriptions, but she sharply points out a reality that many people never experience – and yet I wish no one would.

Many novels about India tend to emphasise the exoticism of the culture – the magic of the food, the colours, the traditions. But this book takes the opposite approach: it shows an India that is dark, cruel and dangerous. It reveals a world that is usually obscured by the vibrant surface of tourist brochures – a world where human trafficking and child prostitution are part of the reality.

The story starts with Caroline and Kamal's past – two people from completely different worlds who find each other. However, their relationship hits a rough patch from the start, with neither of their families supporting them. The story of Asha, born out of their marriage, is at the heart of the novel, and as we delve deeper, it becomes clear that Caroline and Kamal, though well-intentioned, are not very good parents at first. Their own struggles push Asha into the background, and this leads to serious consequences.

Sharon Maas not only reveals social injustices, but also creates characters who are realistic, fallible, and flawed – which is what makes them authentic and human. This is not a fairy tale. There are real struggles, bad choices, painful consequences – but there is also love, care, and growth. By the end of the novel, I had grown fond of several of the characters, even if I didn't always agree with their choices.

It was particularly heart-wrenching for me to discover that one of the most moving moments in the story – the story of a child prostitute – was inspired by real events. Although the book is fiction, the problem it addresses is very real. The stories of children and women are heartbreaking, and although they are difficult to face, it is important not to turn a blind eye to reality.

Sharon Maas's writing is beautifully detailed, the locations come alive and we feel as if we are part of the story. “Girl in a Red Silk Sari” is not an easy read. But that is why it is important. It's a disturbing, sad, but necessary story that brings serious issues to the surface and forces us to be present not only as readers, but also as human beings – sensitive, attentive, open-minded.

Rich, atmospheric, and deeply moving 🌺🌏. Girl in a Red Silk Sari is a stunning exploration of family, identity, and belonging. Sharon Maas brings culture and setting to life with lyrical prose and unforgettable characters. I adored the emotional complexity and beautiful descriptions. A must-read for fans of generational sagas and immersive, character-driven fiction.

A book which grabs you and enthralls you. The subject matter is at times disturbing and upsetting, the descriptions of India from two different angles are well done. There are trigger warnings for child abuse and trafficking as well as child prostitution. When Caroline marries an Indian and moves there for his work and for her own study, she is quite naive about life there. She is living with an Indian family whilslt her husband is working on engineering projects elsewhere. When is falls pregnant, she has little support from family, but she and her daughter are cared for within the family where they are staying, to the extent that her daughter bonds with the mother and other children rather than with her own mother. Caroline becomes ill, returning to the US for treatment, leaving Asha with the foster family. All goes well, except that Asha has little relationship with her blood relatives until the parents in the foster family are killed in an accident. Asha is missing and Caroline and her husbnd Kamal join forces to find her.
Maybe the investigation was a little too drawn out, I liked the plot being told from different points of view. Emotions are well described and I could understand the viewpoints of most of the characters, except in places that of Caroline. A great read though and the subject matter is something which needs more coverage.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC

A beautiful and empowering story which grabbed my attention immediately. Loved this story which was also interesting. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Caroline has been in love with India since she was a child. She is positive her destiny is to marry an Indian man and move to India. When she meets Kamal she is sure he is the key to her dreams. But India is not what she thought it would be, and eventually she leaves her daughter and husband behind to go home to America. Years later Kamal and Caroline will have to come together to find their daughter who has gone missing. Their search will take them to the darkest parts of India as they try and find a needle in a haystack.
I think I like the idea of this book more then I liked the actual book. There is a lot of information about child trafficking and Indian culture which is well written and well executed. I just found the characters themselves to be a bit flat.
Thank you to @netgalley @stormbooks_co for letting me have a copy of The Girl in the Red Silk Sari to review.
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I am sad that this book didn't pan out to be what I was expecting. The Indian culture is so enormously rich and intriguing to me. The cover lured me in easily. However, once I started deep diving into the nitty gritty, I am forlorn to say that it had very slow progression and character development. We visit various themes for discussion centering around culture and acclimation, parenting troubles, human trafficking, conflicts and plenty of heavier to swallow topics. It was almost too much, too fast for the one book and it seemed like the author lost focus? I see it as a necessary evil to teach others about these dark aspects of society - but it seemed overly exaggerated. The synopsis did not match what I read in the contents of the book.
Thank you to the author and Netgalley for this free eARC and the opportunity to review this book honestly.

Thank you to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book and thought it was well written. I loved the storyline and thought the characters had great growth. I would definitely recommend this book.

It was only after finishing this novel that I discovered it was not the debut I had thought! In fact this author has a sizeable back catalogue and 'Girl in a Red Silk Sari' was originally published in 2001 as 'The Lost Daughter of India' and has been republished a number of times since then as well.

A disturbing story about the ugly side of India. Asha's story is one that needs to be told as sadly even in today's world children are still being sold into prostitution. However in the nearly 25 years since the author first researched child prostitution in Mumbai, though still existing, it has been reduced to a tiny fraction of its previous levels. The author visited the streets of Kamathipura back in 2000 when researching her writing and it is the disturbing horrors of child prostitution in India that she brings alive in this novel.

Highly recommended, well worth reading even if it is rather harrowing to do so.

With thanks to NetGalley, Storm Publishing and Sharon Maas the author for the opportunity to read and review.

Epic ! Highly recommended

Very well written, loved it - such a powerful story about relationships, cultural differences, family, love, kindness and survival. Child trafficking in India and the exploitation of the inner depths of Mumbai

Sharon Maas, you did not disappoint

I can see this as a Netflix series

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookoutre

This book tells a story of India but the worst side. It shows up the horrific side of child trafficking through the stories of Caroline and her daughter Asha. It is at times a difficult read to have detailed the appalling sale of young children into prostitution and worse yet it manages to have a lighter side showing the richness and colour of India. Would recommend.

Beautiful. Poignant. Heart breaking, heart rending, heart warming. So beautifully written. Love this author and have loved every single one of her books. This one is a masterpiece.

A story of two people from opposite sides of the world. They marry and try to make it work in India. After having a child, they feel they must leave her behind to be cared for by another family. Many years later, they lose touch with each other and their daughter, but come together after learning she had been taken away and trafficked.

Although this story is fictional, it is engaging, realistic, and often difficult to read. Horrible things like this continue to happen in India and worldwide. I feel that the author did her research about brothels, prostitution, and trafficking of girls and women in Mumbai before writing this book.

Caroline Mitchell appears to have rose tinted specs on when she harbours a longing to go to India. After she she marries her sweetheart Kamal and settles there life takes on a different meaning for her. When she does decide to leave it will mean leaving something precious that one day she will return to claim.
On her return Caroline sees parts of the country she couldn’t have envisaged, this seems little price to pay if it means she will find her Asha. Worse, when Caroline is forced to visit the red light area in Kamathipura, will she find the strength to go on and find Asha?

Although I found parts disturbing it was a quick read. Favourite character was Caroline, least favourite was Paruthy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The clash of cultures between America and India was interesting. And the challenges of being female in a culture where women are commodities was so engaging. I would recommend.

Like me, Caroline had romantic notions of India....palaces, princesses, warm sun and exotic festivals. But reality was too harsh and once she had baby Asha, who she was unable to bond with, her marriage and health collapsed and ultimately she left her husband and daughter behind, returning to USA.
Asha is raised in the Indian way, as part of a loving family. But heartbreak comes in the form of a fatal road accident. As is the Indian way, an uncle takes charge of the family and Asha is seen as not a blood relative and another mouth to feed but also as a cash cow, as her parents continue to send funds for her upkeep. Greed sees Asha's Indian Uncle effectively selling her. With her pale skin and virginity intact at age 13, Asha is desirable in the underworld trade of girls (some as young as five) to depraved men looking for "companions". An unscrupulous market exists to fill this demand.....openly kidnapping girls....and locking them away in dire conditions in the maze of Bombay streets. Girls become effectively a needle in haystack, with families not having the resources to find and free their girl....even if they want too.
Caroline annoyed me greatly throughout...apparently she studied Asian studies.....and had come to India with her Indian husband to write her thesis. But when the reality wasn't as romantic as she thought, she couldn't cope. I found her whining, pathetic and boring, I skipped a lot of the inner self narrative around her. She seemed to lack backbone. It was truely a relief to see she came to her senses and fight hard at the end of the book where her mother's instinct was uncovered and played upon against her captor.
Interestingly, I wasn't really shocked by the content. Maybe it wasn't as graphic as it could be? I did enjoy the tie in to the sapphire necklace handed down on Kamal's side of the family, but was actually expecting his grandmother to show up in a more physical way as part of the finale.
For those younger readers I can see the lack of constant/instant connection being an eye opener, as "Girl in a Red Silk Sari" is set at the beginning of the world wide web and mobile connection was very sparse. That feeling of being on your own and disconnected from others on the same mission to find Asha, took me back in my own personal time (which I describe as freedom).
Overall, a quick read that touched on the sites and sounds of a busy and confronting India but never really made me desperate to see what comes next. The cover image is absolutely beautiful, in a heartbreaking way.
Thanks to NetGalley, Sharon Maas and Storm Publishing for my copy.

Caroline Mitchell has never truly made peace with her past—and the circumstances that led to her separation from her beloved child. And when thirteen-year-old Asha vanishes without a trace, she faces every parent’s worst nightmare. Desperate to find her, Caroline returns to India determined to do whatever it takes. The search will mean reconnecting with her estranged husband Kamal, and burying the memories of everything that happened between them. It will lead to the darkest corners of Mumbai's infamous red-light district—a world of shadows, secrets, and unspeakable horrors. There, she discovers her precious daughter has been caught in a trafficking ring that preys on vulnerable children.
As Caroline navigates the labyrinthine streets and corrupt systems of Mumbai, she must find the strength to become the mother she has always wanted to be. Her mission will test her in ways she could never have imagined – but if she can reach Asha in time, and save her from a terrifying fate, she may finally be able to heal the wounds of the past.

This is a wonderful story, characters you will love, a poignant picture of India that at the same time opens your eyes to the horrifying reality there and shows you the beauty the country has to offer. The writing is brilliant. 5⭐

I received an advanced complimentary digital copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

"Girl in a Red Silk Sari" by Sharon Moss is an eye-opening, powerful read that sheds light on horrific realities that still plague us today.
Though the story tackles heavy themes, the author's depiction is thought-provoking and impactful.
While the pacing felt a bit slow at times, it didn't deter me from appreciating the book's significance. I'd still highly recommend it for its unflinching portrayal of difficult truths.
Thank you to NetGalley and Strom Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Caroline returns to India filled with worry about the husband and daughter she left behind. Although she and her husband were deeply in love, their cultural differences, coupled with the fact that she could not bond with their daughter led to her leaving India and returning to her home in the US. Their daughter Asha remained in India, raises by family friends. When Asha's parents unexpectedly pass away and Asha goes missing, Caroline is forced to confront her past decisions and return in the hope that she and her estranged husband can work together to find their daughter. While searching for her, they discover the underground world of trafficking of young women and can only hope they find their Asha before she is lost forever.

This a sad, terrible story about love, loss and the complexities within relationships and parenting. It's a well-written story but I struggled to connect with Caroline's character and understand her. I acknowledge that some parents struggle to connect with their babies and their parenting journey isn't a smooth one, however I felt Caroline's actions were a little selfish. It was as though she didn't understand what she had until she thought she might lose her daughter completely. Perhaps her story simply reflects the truth about how flawed we all are, one way or another.

Overall, it's an enjoyable and powerful story told in a rich and immersive way that makes you feel as though you are there in this incredible country of extremes. Definitely worth reading although it deals with some very real and terrible themes about the treatment of vulnerable girls and young women.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

⭐⭐⭐.5

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.