Prayers for the Stolen

by Jennifer Clement

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Pub Date Feb 06 2014 | Archive Date Mar 26 2014

Random House UK, Vintage Publishing | Vintage Digital

General Fiction (Adult)

Description

‘Now we make you ugly,’ my mother said. ‘The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl.’

On the mountainside in rural Mexico where Ladydi lives, being a girl is dangerous. Especially a pretty one. If the Narcos hear there is a pretty girl on the mountain, they steal her. So when the black SUVs roll into town, Ladydi and her friends hide in the warren of holes scattered across the mountain, safely out of sight. Because the stolen girls don’t come back.

Ladydi is determined to get out, to find a life that offers more than just the struggle to survive. But she soon finds that the drug cartels have eyes everywhere, and the cities are no safer than the mountains.

‘Now we make you ugly,’ my mother said. ‘The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl.’

On the mountainside in rural Mexico where Ladydi lives, being a girl is dangerous. Especially a pretty...

A Note From the Publisher

UK edition - available for readers in the UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada).

Advance Praise

Prayers For The Stolen is stark and brutal, but not without happiness. “Mexico is a warren of hidden women”, says Jennifer Clement. This book is a way of seeing them - Stylist

The most enchanting journey I’ve taken in a long, long time, and the most important. Prayers For The Stolen is a hand-guided tour through a ruthless true corner of our century, with characters so alive they will burrow into your heart like worms. Stunningly written, magically detailed, you see, smell and taste the action on every page, feel every foible, and miss the candour of these funny, achingly human voices long after you put them down. As the heroine herself might say: not something to read but to lick off a plate. - DBC Pierre

Marketing Plan

Introducing Ladydi Garcia Martinez: a fierce, wild, outspoken literary heroine, the best thing to come out of Mexico since Frida Kahlo

A wake-up call from an acclaimed Latin American novelist: from rural villages to city prisons, giving voice to the women who find themselves forced into hiding or trafficked within the most vicious drug cartels in the world

Super-early proofs featuring exclusive essay from Jennifer about the making of the novel: soliciting responses from top literary names to Latin American aficionados; urban enthusiasts and eager bloggers

Hogarth LEAD and International rights sensation: Hogarth US/UK pre-empts followed by sales in 14 territories: Suhrkamp (Germany), Flammarion (France), De Bezige Bij (Holland), Cappelen Damm (Norway), Hr Ferdinand (Denmark), Bonniers (Sweden), Laguna (Serbia), Euromedia (Czech Republic), Ikar (Slovakia) Lumen (Spain/Mexico), Guanda (Italy), Like (Finland), Libri (Hungary), Bjartur (Iceland) and Rocco (Brazil).