By Saleem Rana
Interviewer: Allen Cardoza
Author, Corban Addison spoke to Allen Cardoza, host of L.A. Talk radio show; “Answers for the Family” about the heartbreaking and harrowing experiences that led him to write his latest novel, “A Walk Across the Sun”.
In describing his research, Addison talked about his undercover work in India to chronicle an unforgettable journey through the underworld of modern slavery.
Before journeying to India, Addison spent six months reading everything he could find on the human trafficking trade. He then spoke to human trafficking activists in the United States and the European Union, as well as travelling to Washington DC to interview a high-level official at the Justice Department. In all, he amassed over two hundred pages of notes from his interviews.
He also spent a month with the International Justice Mission, a human rights organization that combats human slavery throughout the world. There he interviewed investigators who roamed the red light areas rescuing underage girls, accompanied social workers and met children rescued from exploitation. Furthermore, Addison went undercover in the brothels of Mumbai, where he met girls enslaved in prostitution rings.
The Evolution of a Novelist
Addison holds degrees in law and engineering from the University of Virginia and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He began writing at the age of fifteen and developed an interest in international travel. For eight years he searched for a deeply moving human interest story.
Then, in the summer of 2008, his wife suggested a novel on the global trade in human beings. Despite the increasing demands of career and family, he embarked upon a quest to find out more about this illicit trade.
Exposing the Magnitude of Human Trafficking
A Walk Across the Sun is a novel that combines storytelling, human rights, and the world and its cultures in a narrative that raises awareness about the abolition of modern slavery.
The novel uncovers the labyrinthine underside of human trafficking in a transcontinental story. It weaves fictional characters into the reality of contemporary slavery. The message will leave an impact on every reader.
A Book Synopsis
A tsunami in a coastal town in India leaves 17-year-old Ahalya Ghai and her 15-year-old sister Sita orphaned and homeless. As they journey to their school, which is a convert in search of shelter, they are abducted by human traffickers and forced into an underground world of sex and violence.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., attorney Thomas Clarke faced by the tragic death of his infant daughter and estranged from his wife accepts a pro bono sabbatical in India with an NGO that prosecutes human traffickers.
In Mumbai, Clarke sees for himself the horrors of child prostitution ignored by the corrupt judicial system. Learning about Ahalya and Sita, he proceeds on a journey in an attempt to free them from an international network of criminals.
A Walk Across the Sun, available at http://corbanaddison.com, chronicles the underworld of modern slavery across three continents and two cultures.
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You can listen to the fascinating interview in its entirety on Allen Cardoza’s website at http://answersforthefamily.com/a-walk-across-the-sun-corban-addison/
