Twisted by Lola Smirnova
Back in the 90’s, the corrupt post-Soviet Ukraine with its faltering economy, is thrown into a devastating
depression. Times are hard. Opportunities are scarce. Three young and eager sisters – Natalia, Lena and
Julia – dream of a better life and weigh their options: do they stay and struggle like their parents, or
join scores of their compatriots in the sex trade in glittering western European cities, who earn in a night
what they’d take several months to earn at home? Naive and tempted by the allure of ‘quick’ money, the girls
set off on an adventure that changes their lives forever.For sensible, resilient and calculating Lena and
Natalia, the transition to the underworld of Luxembourg’s deceptive champagne bars is eye-opening, but
smooth. But for fragile, brittle Julia, haunted by a childhood assault, the change is more than just
vocational. Struggling to adapt, she turns to alcohol and drugs, exposing herself to increasing danger and
depravity; and, ultimately, betrayal, when a deceitful client, who claims to love her, drugs her and cleans
her out. Despite her sisters’ best efforts to intervene, she finds herself in Istanbul – culturally a world
apart – in an attempt to make back the money and self-respect she’s lost. Vulnerable without the protection
of Luxembourg’s champagne bars, she descends into a hell of drugs and high-risk sex until, at the novel’s
terrible climax, a kidnapping, brutal assault and one-sided justice system lead to her imprisonment and a
threat of deportation.
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threat of deportation.
Here is a short sample from the book:
Back in the 90’s, the corrupt post-Soviet Ukraine with its faltering economy, is thrown into a devastating
depression. Times are hard. Opportunities are scarce. Three young and eager sisters – Natalia, Lena and
Julia – dream of a better life and weigh their options: do they stay and struggle like their parents, or
join scores of their compatriots in the sex trade in glittering western European cities, who earn in a night
what they’d take several months to earn at home? Naive and tempted by the allure of ‘quick’ money, the girls
set off on an adventure that changes their lives forever.For sensible, resilient and calculating Lena and
Natalia, the transition to the underworld of Luxembourg’s deceptive champagne bars is eye-opening, but
smooth. But for fragile, brittle Julia, haunted by a childhood assault, the change is more than just
vocational. Struggling to adapt, she turns to alcohol and drugs, exposing herself to increasing danger and
depravity; and, ultimately, betrayal, when a deceitful client, who claims to love her, drugs her and cleans
her out. Despite her sisters’ best efforts to intervene, she finds herself in Istanbul – culturally a world
apart – in an attempt to make back the money and self-respect she’s lost. Vulnerable without the protection
of Luxembourg’s champagne bars, she descends into a hell of drugs and high-risk sex until, at the novel’s
terrible climax, a kidnapping, brutal assault and one-sided justice system lead to her imprisonment and a
threat of deportation.
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