Little Peach
By: Peggy Kern
Publisher: Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins
Published: March 10, 2015
Genre: Contemporary
Rating:
What do you do if you’re in trouble?
When Michelle runs away from her drug-addicted mother, she has just enough money to make it to New York City, where she hopes to move in with a friend. But once she arrives at the bustling Port Authority, she is confronted with the terrifying truth: she is alone and out of options.
Then she meets Devon, a good-looking, well-dressed guy who emerges from the crowd armed with a kind smile, a place for her to stay, and eyes that seem to understand exactly how she feels.
But Devon is not what he seems to be, and soon Michelle finds herself engulfed in the world of child prostitution where he becomes her “Daddy” and she his “Little Peach.” It is a world of impossible choices, where the line between love and abuse, captor and savior, is blurred beyond recognition.
This hauntingly vivid story illustrates the human spirit’s indomitable search for home, and one girl’s struggle to survive.
“While researching this novel, I witnessed firsthand the selling of girls in the hotels of Coney Island and East New York, Brooklyn. I spent many hours driving the streets of Brooklyn with an NYPD detective, who showed me the intricacies of gang culture and the inner workings of the sex trade. I was also able to interview two women who had been targeted in the same way Peach was. Both had been tattooed by their pimps. Both had been given narcotics, making them all the more dependent on their captors. And, like the girls in this novel, both believed that this was the best they could hope for.” – Peggy Kern’s author’s note
This is a haunting read and will be a tough one to swallow.
Michelle’s grandfather looked after her growing up because her mother was clearly not capable of doing so. She either doesn’t show up at all or shows up high out of her mind. So, Michelle’s grandfather has raised her and looked after her. However, when Michelle is 14 her loving grandfather passes away and her unloving mother kicks her out of the house. With only $80 on her, Michelle gets on a bus to New York. A place where a friend of hers from school claimed to be moving to. Pretty soon, Michelle finds herself broke, with nowhere and no one to turn to, other than the nice man who bought her food at the bus station. He takes her home where she meets two other girls. One in her late teens, and another only 12. Michelle has no idea what she’s gotten into until it’s too late. Pretty soon she’s one of them and they are all calling her Little Peach.
“I wonder if Grandpa can see me. If maybe he sent Devon to make sure I could get away.”
This was one of those stories that was gut-wrenching to read. The story jumps between Peach in the hospital and the events leading up to her trip to the hospital. The story is written in Peach’s perspective. So with that being said, the story is choppy, shallow, and not that well written. However, this is from a 14 year old girl’s perspective. So it would stand to reason that she wouldn’t be able to articulate herself like an adult would and may have jumbled memories and thoughts. So when you look at it that way, the story was written perfectly.
During the day, Peach, Kat, Baby, and Daddy (Devon) hang out at the apartment watching T.V. They are like a normal make-shift family. However, at night, Daddy loads the kids up and takes them to a hotel where each girl gets her own room. While there the girls wait in their room for the customers to show up while the Daddy’s stay outside and run the business. Thankfully, the author doesn’t go into explicit detail in what happens in those rooms but they are some horribly disturbing scenes nonetheless. Devon gives the girls a false sense of security. He’s checks in on Peach after her shift is over, coddles them, and pretends to be their father or older brother. He’s there for them if any of the customers get too rough. However, Peach has no idea what lurks beneath until it’s too late. She has no idea that the moment his name was tattooed on her chest that she belonged not only to him but a whole gang of people, and not in a good way.
This is one of those books that should be read. Everyone should open their eyes to what goes on in our own country, our own city, our own neighborhood. This isn’t something that happens in movies, on T.V., or in some foreign country. This is happening in our own backyards and it needs to be stopped. This book will get your right in the heart. You will mourn for the loss of their childhood, for the things that they have to endure to survive, and the hope that has been scared out of them.
“The pill is magic. It fixes me, like medicine. I can crawl inside my head where nothing hurts. I can say the right things and sound like Kat does. I can hold still and float away, float to where it’s warm and it’s just me and Kat and Baby, and my daddy standing guard.”
Everytime I go to my mother’s house, I see several prostitutes along the road in the forest, in their old van, waiting for clients. They are young, not teenagers (I think), but young women from all over the world and it breaks my heart to see them that way… Cops take that same road and I never see them stop. I’ll add that book to my to-read list, thanks for sharing 🙂
It took a lot not to cry while reading this
This sounds like a somewhat intense read. Will have to add it to my TBR.
To me, this one always sounded like it would be a very emotional read and one that might be difficult to get through. But I am someone who loves reads like that and embraces them myself. Which is why I think I might like this book a lot. I am looking forward to try it. Thanks for the review!
Check out my book haul: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2015/03/book-haul-3-box-sets-scruffy-books-and.html
This sounds like an intense read about an important topic. Might be a little too intense for me, but agree that the issue needs to be addresses. Such a sad situation for all of the young girls trapped like this!
This sounds like such a tough book to read but definitely something that can’t be ignored. I can’t believe one of them is 12 years old! But then again, I can’t believe this is something that happens in real life either, but it does. It’s nice to know that the author did such extensive research. I can’t even imagine how hard that would be.