Girls Like Us : Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale: A Memoir
Author(s): Rachel Lloyd
"Powerfully raw, deeply moving, and utterly authentic. Rachel Lloyd has turned a personal atrocity into triumph and is nothing less than a true hero. . . . Never again will you look at young girls on the street as one of 'those' women—you will only see little girls that are girls just like us." —Demi Moore, actress and activist
With the power and verity of First They Killed My Father and A Long Way Gone, Rachel Lloyd’s riveting survivor story is the true tale of her hard-won escape from the commercial sex industry and her bold founding of GEMS, New York City’s Girls Education and Mentoring Service, to help countless other young girls escape "the life." Lloyd’s unflinchingly honest memoir is a powerful and unforgettable story of inhuman abuse, enduring hope, and the promise of redemption.
Review(s):
“Extraordinarily inspiring. . . [Girls Like Us] illuminates the complexities of the sex industry. . . . I hope that Lloyd’s important and compelling book will be a reminder that homegrown American girls are also trafficked, and they deserve sympathy and social services-not handcuffs and juvenile detention.”
“Powerful, superbly reasoned, and articulate. . . . Girls Like Us tells the whole story with visceral power. . . . It is a page-turner, an eye-opener, a call to action, and a moving and inspiring story. It is told throughout with wit and candor. Lucky for us there are girls and women like Rachel Lloyd.”
“Riveting. . . . [Lloyd’s] passionate, persuasive arguments for recognition and protection give a voice to the thousands of girls all around us who work and suffer in near invisibility.”
“Fascinating and moving.”
“A brutally honest and disturbing look at sex trafficking, challenging society’s indifference and offering portraits of the occasional victory of girls who, like [Lloyd], heal and recover from their abuse.”
“Heartbreaking. . . . But the book is also at times funny, bawdy, and optimistic, as is Lloyd herself.”
“Rachel Lloyd’s astonishing stories of life on the street have an accumulative power that left me reeling. What makes Girls Like Us such an extraordinary achievement is that her storytelling is unflinchingly honest, and yet filled with a sense of promise, filled with a profound sense of hope.”
“This book will burn a hole in your heart. The beauty of Rachel Lloyd’s searing memoir is how she exorcises the pain of her own troubled girlhood by connecting with hundreds of young women on a brutal path.”
“Powerful . . . [Lloyd] details her life, seamlessly interweaving her current work and a more socio-political analysis of the domestic trafficking of girls and women. . . . But what really “makes” the book is what a truly gifted writer she is. The memoir moves quickly, propelled by skillfully drawn scenes and important insights about risk and recovery.”
“Powerfully raw, deeply moving, and utterly authentic. . . . Exposing the complexities of ‘the life,’ Lloyd takes you inside a world most prefer to pretend doesn’t exist, and puts you front and center with the realities of the commercial sex industry and the modern day slave trade right here in America.”
ISBN: 9780061582066