Hello book friends, I hope you are all having a great week!
I have started to watch more TV recently, and have been binging on Netflix shows, unfortunately that has moved me away from reading as much, but I have remedied this over the last couple of weeks and have got my Mojo back…I think.
Why did you pick it up Vicci? – **THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED BBC DRAMA ‘THREE GIRLS’ ** After watching this show, and feeling so angry, I wanted to find out about the girl, and if she was OK now and living a happy and healthy life, I didn’t manage to find this information, but I did find this book.
Be warned, this is not a fluffy feelgood book, this is gritty, graphic and heartbreaking. This would probably be a good book for people in the Social Worker profession to read about what not to do!
My Thoughts
A heartbreaking read of true events, in May 2012 nine men were convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.
This is the story of one of those girls.
Only known as Girl A in the news, this is the harrowing story of a young girl that were groomed, raped and then ultimately sold for sex, all under the eyes of the police, social workers and her parents.
The men involved were all of Asian/Pakistani descent, and occurred within their own community, however this is not a book about race, this is something that happened and is still happening to young girls.
Girl A or Hannah for the purpose of the story was from a well off family who fell onto bad times, her father lost the business he had,and they had to downsize their house and move to a different area.
This is where she met Emma, who befriended her for ulterior motives.
After finding new friends “Hannah” used to go to the local kebab shop with Emma, there they were given free kebabs, chips and drinks, this soon led to Vodka and parties.
Only being 14, this was the best thing ever, her parents didn’t know, and the owners of the kebab shop gave her and her friends everything she wanted, they even picked her off and dropped her off, as the friend of the shop also had friends that ran a taxi company, all of this was done for free, they never asked for any money, or anything in return……until they did!
Hannah is then drawn into a spiral of harrowing and horrifying despair, and when she finds the courage to speak up, she is let down by the very authorities that are supposed to be there to protect her!
I can’t tell you how angry I was reading this book, these poor girls were failed time and time again by the authorities, and the one lady that knew what was going on and told the police time and time again was brushed aside, even Social Services who KNEW what was happening in that area, brushed it aside and said that it was a “lifestyle choice” by the girls!! 14 YEAR OLD GIRLS!!!!
This is not a lifestyle choice, this is RAPE!! These men were all 40-50 years old!
This book was heartbreaking, and I really hope that “Hannah” is now happy and living a normal and happy life, she is one brave lady to tell her story.
About the book
THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED BBC DRAMA ‘THREE GIRLS’
What do they find attractive about me? An underage girl who just lies there, sobbing, looking up at them…as they come to me one by one.
This is the shocking true story of how a young girl from Rochdale came to be Girl A – the key witness in the trial of Britain’s most notorious child sex ring.
Girl A was just 14 when she was groomed by a group of nine Asian men. After being lured into their circle with free gifts, she was plied with alcohol and systematically abused. She was just one of up to fifty girls to be ‘passed around’ by the gang. The girls were all under-16 and forced to have sex with as many as twenty men in one night.
When details emerged a nation was outraged and asked how these sickening events came to pass. And now, the girl at the very centre of the storm reveals the heartbreaking truth.
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Vicci
Berit Talks Books 
this book sounds disturbing. great review.
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Thank you Yesha,
Yes it was very disturbing, it was very graphic, but I think it needed to be, they couldn’t “fluff it up”, What happened to these poor girls was just heartbreaking.
I think the 3 part series is still on Netflix, it is certainly not suitable for young viewing, but it has some fantastic young actors in it, and shows how very let down these girls were.
Vicci x
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I disagree with you about her being a poor girl. She had many chances to leave all this, her parents have tried, but she willingly moved out to Emma’s house. Her friend, when she saw what was about to happen in that chicken shop, ran and never came back. So when 14 years old is looking for alcohol, she is not poor, she is plain stupid.
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I do agree in a way, she was silly to to go back, but I think also she was groomed into being like that, unfortunately when you are 14 years old peer pressure is huge and Emma used that to her advantage and scared her into going back time and time again.
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I watched a few documentaries and movies about this case. There was one social worker who was vital in helping the case come to light (from what I saw and read). However, she was up against a lot of people who as you said tried to say this was a “lifestyle choice”. Many people looked the other way. This story was heartbreaking. The men who groom know exactly what they are doing, they know exactly which girls to pick most of the time too. I can’t imagine blaming a child for what these men did. At 14 years old I wasn’t always making the best decisions. Just because they made some poor decisions does not mean they deserved any of what happened.
Great review ❤
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It’s just like with Charles Manson if you’ve read anything about him, he just knew who to pick and these people just fell into line, it is disturbing and heartbreaking, as well as fascinating? I mean the fact that that man had people killing for him is beyond comprehension.
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Yes the way the social services looked the other way is disgusting, how they could call it a lifestyle choice at 14 beggers belief.
Did you also know that the case worker that was instrumental in helping the case (the lady you were talking about) after the case had “closed” suddenly found herself out of a job 😳
They basically put her on mundane paperwork jobs, and then pushed her out of the door, it’s terrible that they did that to her, and the police woman that helped eventually quit because she was alao disgusted with the treatment of the girls.
I think that they both work together now in a company that they set up for this type of crime.
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Yes! I remember now…she did get fired. That was terrible. I watched a few interviews but it was quite a while ago. She really did her best for those girls and put herself on the line. I’m glad to hear that she’s working with the police officer. I just don’t understand how anyone can blame the girls. Blaming the victims. It’s mind-boggling to me.
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Victim shaming is just terrible, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but all these perfect people who have never got themselves into any sort of potentially dangerous situations when they were young and stupid, must be so proud of themselves !
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Exactly!
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