The Natashas

The shocking story of the Eastern European women victimized by the business of worldwide human trafficking—and those who profit from it. "Required reading" (TheNew York Post).

On the black market, they're the third most profitable commodity, after illegal weapons and drugs. The only difference is that these goods are women and girls, some as young as twelve, from all over the Eastern Bloc, where networks of organized crime have become entrenched in the aftermath of the collapse of the Communist regimes.
In Israel, they're called Natashas, whether they're actually from Russia, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, or Ukraine. Promised jobs as waitresses, models, nannies, dishwashers, maids, and dancers, they are then stripped of their identification, sold into prostitution, and kept enslaved. Resistance is futile, even dangerous, and the victims often have nowhere to turn. In many cases, those who should be rescuing them—immigration officials, police officers, or international peacekeepers—are among their most hostile aggressors.

In this "graphic...scathing indictment" (Kirkus Reviews) of a crisis of epic proportions, Victor Malarek exposes the global phenomenon of sexual trafficking, a form of modern slavery and a multibillion-dollar industry whose scope has, until now, remained largely unknown. An indispensible and startling call to action to end this institutionalized crime against humanity, The Natashas is an "impassioned [and] intensely affecting read."(Chicago Sun-Times).