49 books like Sold

I had been wanting to read this book for a long while but knew that it deserved setting aside a good chunk of time to really appreciate it! I finally picked it up during the first COVID lockdown and was fully engaged from the very first page.

This is the very best book that I have ever read on childhood trauma. For me, this book was like doing a specialist course in neuroscience. I learned so much about how adversity and extreme stress affect a child’s brain. However,  despite dealing with harrowing material, the authors never lose their focus on hope for a positive outcome. They consider how even children who have lived through unspeakable suffering can experience healing and wholeness.

The importance of compassionate and nurturing relationships is paramount within this exceptional book, based on real-life case files.

It is difficult to imagine a more adverse childhood experience than growing up in a refugee camp.

In 2016 and 2017, I was privileged to spend some time working with children and families in a refugee camp in North France. The living conditions were very difficult, with regular food shortages, ill health, uncertainty, and ever-present danger. However,  I was continually amazed by the resilience, creativity, generosity, and humour shown by the children, even in the face of such difficulties.

When Stars Are Scattered is a beautiful children’s book that tells the true story of Omar and his brother Hassan as they grow up in a Kenyan refugee camp. Filled with beautiful illustrations and thoughtful insights into daily life in the camp, this book exemplifies hope in the face of adversity. 

I have long been interested in Seigman's work on positive psychology. Increasingly, we are living in a world where hope is a diminishing commodity. Wars, economic downturns, and the climate crisis are all making life feel more uncertain, and 24-hour news culture and an omnipresent internet make it difficult for young people to escape the negative images that bombard them.

Statistics on children and young people’s mental health are frightening, with NHS England estimating that in 2023, 1 in 5 children and young people aged between 8 and 25 had a probable mental health disorder. Parents and practitioners alike are looking at these statistics in dismay and wondering how we can best equip and safeguard our children. Seligman’s book confronts these issues head-on in a thought-provoking and evidenced-based way.

This highly practical book considers how optimism can be learned and that by viewing setbacks as temporary, children and young people… show more.

I love that this book is written primarily for parents. It presents the idea that by “flicking the strengths switch” and focusing on children’s many strengths rather than highlighting their weaknesses, parents can enjoy a better relationship with their children, help them develop optimism and resilience, and help protect against anxiety and depression.

It encourages parents to look for the good, become strength spotters, and help children build on positive emotions. However, the book is very nuanced and rejects a simplistic understanding of simply building children’s self-esteem in favour of research-based practices to help children become the best version of themself, especially in tough circumstances.

The book is very readable and filled with practical examples and compelling storytelling. It shows how a small shift in parenting approach can yield strong and lasting benefits for children and for families as a whole.

The novel touches on the world of human trafficking and how often people go missing without anyone realizing it.

Its dark world is a burgeoning industry where children are abducted for profit and pleasure. The dogged protagonist follows a thin trail and unearths a huge ring of pedophiles. The pace and dialogue are excellent.

I learned how deep that world is and how easily it is for overwhelmed investigators to simply give up and relegate the files into cold cases.

Reading this book is like the first breath you take when opening a door to a winter blizzard. Your lungs freeze.

What I admired most about this muscular tale is Preus doesn’t pull any punches for her young readers. Like an ice ball covered in snow, she packs Nordic folktales and myths around the harsh realities of two Norwegian sisters who escape from a lecherous goat farmer to join their father in America.

The book title ties into the moment every day before total darkness takes over. The way I see it, this book shows that a good story, honestly told, sheds light everywhere. 

Ever since I read this haunting book, I haven’t been able to shake the memory. Its Ozark Mountain setting is incredibly well-rendered, mostly via trailer-dwelling characters scrabbling to survive. In this community, vulnerable girls have gone missing, and young Lucy Dane is trying to work out why.

There are entrancing, regular tales of hunting, gathering, and cooking (one character has a popular recipe for squirrel dumplings). This made the story feel so authentic and tangible, lending even more fear and credence to the disturbing crimes that take place.

This book tackles a big, tough subject: human trafficking; and it’s compulsively readable, which is why it’s on my list.

I love that Dunlap makes this issue accessible to any age reader; it’s a serious book, but it’s also got some really nice less-heavy moments with Julia and her beloved horses and the barn where she volunteers. While I related immediately to Julia’s friendship and social image challenges, I was also deeply grateful for a book that I could give to my tween daughter to add to the ongoing conversation about online safety. 

Told in a series of vignette-style chapters, Sold tells the story of Lakshmi, a young girl from Nepal sold to a brothel in India.

The book charts Laksmi’s young innocence and contrasts it with what’s to come. Painted with tragedy, Sold takes time to focus on the people around Lakshmi who help her endure her hardships. In spite of everything Lakshmi suffers, she still holds onto what makes her Lakshmi, on what she's living towards.

It’s a story about resilience and hope that one day, things won’t be so bad and the experience won’t have been for nothing.

What’s not to like about a racehorse mystery written by a former amateur jockey, horse breeder, and mystery writer? The author, Sasscer Hill, also hails from my home state of Maryland! I’ve read all of her books, and this one, in particular, grabbed my attention due to the human trafficking aspect. Hill spins a good yarn while creating characters one loves or hates and places them authentically in the horse racing world. If you want heart-stopping action from start to finish, you will enjoy The Sea Horse Trade.