The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey

A true story of sex, crime and the meaning of justice

Author: Julia Laite

Read by: Kristin Atherton

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At a Glance

Format
Digital Audiobook

Duration
11:23.10

Published: 1st April 2021

Digital Audiobook

$44.99

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WINNER OF THE CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

An extraordinary story.

1910, Wellington, New Zealand. Lydia Harvey is sixteen, working long hours for low pay, when a glamorous couple invite her to Buenos Aires. She accepts - and disappears.

London, England. Amid a global panic about sex trafficking, detectives are tracking a ring of international criminals when they find a young woman on the streets of Soho who might be the key to cracking the whole case.

As more people are drawn into Lydia's life and the trial at the Old Bailey, the world is being reshaped into a new, global era. Choices are being made - about who gets to cross borders, whose stories matter and what justice looks like - that will shape the next century. In this immersive account, historian Julia Laite traces Lydia Harvey through the fragments she left behind to build an extraordinary story of aspiration, exploitation and survival - and one woman trying to build a life among the forces of history.

About the Author

Julia Laite is a senior lecturer in modern history at Birkbeck, University of London. As an expert in the history of prostitution, she has written for the Guardian, Open Democracy and History & Policy, and appeared on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour and Making History, as well as the television programme Find My Past.