Reviewed by Kelly Stewart

Mende Nazer spent her early childhood playing games and attending classes with children in her Sudanese tribal village, helping her parents harvest their sorghum crops, and sleeping with the family’s pet cat. But one horrifying night, a gang of Arabs murdered the adults in the village and rounded up the children. At 12 years old, Nazer was sold into slavery. The year: 1993.

Slave: My True Story describes one woman’s years of forced labor for a wealthy Sudanese family. After enduring mental and physical abuse and almost giving up hope for escape, Nazer is sent to serve a Sudanese diplomat in London, where she finds a way to break for freedom — but then becomes ensnared in the British immigration system.

British journalist Damien Lewis, who has reported from the Sudan, heard about Nazer’s plight from Sudanese friends. Lewis witnessed Nazer’s escape from her master’s home in London and, after her escape, spent a summer painstakingly turning her rudimentary English into prose with the help of an Arabic-English dictionary, drawings and sign language. Slave is the product of their collaboration.

Written in simple and clear language, Slave is filled with vivid scenes that illustrate the abuse and monotony of Nazer’s life in slavery. Although the writing style is more simplistic than elegant, this narrative about present-day slavery is a page-turner. The theme of Nazer’s stolen childhood runs throughout the book —even when she is free, she finds it difficult to make decisions on her own. Nazer also emphasizes protecting ancient Sudanese tribal culture from Arab encroachment. She glorifies tribal customs so frequently that when she later argues against the ritual circumcision of tribal women, her words seem out of place.

In addition to alerting readers to the longevity of the slave trade, the book played a key role in the British government’s recent decision to grant asylum to Nazer, who feared re-enslavement if she returned to Sudan. Whether or not Nazer’s words about tribal culture were toned down to win British support, her memoir is a harrowing reminder that hundreds of untold stories are being played out between masters and slaves around the world today.