Prayers for the Stolen: A Novel

Written by Jennifer Clement

Narrated by Justine Eyre

Ladydi Garcia Martinez is fierce, funny and smart. She was born into a world where being a girl is a dangerous thing. In the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, women must fend for themselves, as their men have left to seek opportunities elsewhere. Here in the shadow of the drug war, bodies turn up on the outskirts of the village to be taken back to the earth by scorpions and snakes. School is held sporadically, when a volunteer can be coerced away from the big city for a semester. In Guerrero the drug lords are kings, and mothers disguise their daughters as sons, or when that fails they "make them ugly"-cropping their hair, blackening their teeth-anything to protect them from the rapacious grasp of the cartels. And when the black SUVs roll through town, Ladydi and her friends burrow into holes in their backyards like animals, tucked safely out of sight.

While her mother waits in vain for her husband's return, Ladydi and her friends dream of a future that holds more promise than mere survival, finding humor, solidarity and fun in the face of so much tragedy. When Ladydi is offered work as a nanny for a wealthy family in Acapulco, she seizes the chance, and finds her first taste of love with a young caretaker there.

Contains mature themes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jul 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781977371942

Reviews for Prayers for the Stolen

[Catherine Kutter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Buena novela. La historia de ella es apasionante y llena de suspenso.

[vickimarie2002 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. It's writing is almost like Ladydi is sitting down with you and telling you her story. It has some suspenseful parts but it's very easy to understand and easy to read.

I received this book courtesy of Blogging for Books, in exchange for my review.

[wassilissa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The novel is set on a remote montaintop in Mexiko, a place notorious for the trafficking of young girls. The girl Ladydi Garcia Maretinez is part of a community, like many in rural Mexico, that has been determined by drug traffickers, governement agricultural policies and illegal immigration to the USA. The story is shocking. I did not know much about this issues prior to reading this book.Jennifer Clement, the author, has spent more than ten years listening to Mexican women. Her authority as an author comes from her deep intimacy with the subject. For "Prayers for the Stolen" she spent time with the girls and women in prison whose only real crime was having once been young and pretty.

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A sad, depressing story of life in the jungle of drug cartel filled men who prey on young bodies. Save for the narcos, there are no men in the mountains of Acapulco. They are used the women and left via the illegal entrances of the United States. Some come back sporadically, but most men remain where the grass is greener, leaving behind the unskilled women with no money and no way to thrive.In order to save daughters from abduction by the cartel, mothers cut the girls hair, blacken their teeth, and dig holes in the ground so their daughters can hide when the large vehicles storm into their tiny village.This is a story told from the perspective of Ladydi, one of the girls in the village who, while not stolen, became sadly unintentionally involved in the ravages of the cartel. Her mother is an incredibly negative influence.I finished reading this story, but truly found it way to depressing to recommend.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“The best thing to be in Mexico is an ugly girl.“ These are the words that Ladydi grew up on. Ladydi and her mother live in a small village in the mountains behind Acapulco. In their village, there are no men. The men have all left for the United States. At first the men came home to visit or sent money, but eventually they were just gone never to be heard from again. The only men to come to the mountain village other than the priest or the teacher are the narcos. The narcos came for young girls. Ladydi and her friends spent their youth dressed as boys, they were given boy names and some even had their teeth blackened and when the narcos arrive, the girls hide in the holes that were dug in their yards. Even so, the narcos came and took one of her friends, Paula.Ladydi mother was bitter about her life, about her husband’s abandonment and bitter about the fact that one of Ladydi’s best friends was actually her husband’s child. She spent her days drinking beer and watching television but she is fiercely protective of Ladydi. Prayers for the Stolen was an excellent, almost dreamlike story. Ladydi was an sharp observer of life and she is funny, smart and strong in this excellent portrait of women in rural Mexico. Her story is one of strife, violence and hardship, but through it all, Ladydi’s spirit shines through.Based on real stories, Prayers For the Stolen by Jennifer Clement is a sad, difficult book to read. This terrifying story rings all too true in this day of strong drug cartels and open violence in Mexico. A enlightening and valuable read, I highly recommend this book but with a word of warning, this is a story that shines a light on a very dark reality.

[enemyanniemae · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book will take your breath away. It is incredibly bleak. But like the moment that a storm has passed and the sun shyly peeks out from the dark clouds, there is a ray of hope and a true bond at the end for the women in this story.

[thiscatsabroad · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Perfection***

[signoraedie_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Appreciate a book that makes me lift my head from my hole in the sand. This is the story of the women of Guerrero, Mexico...whose men have gone off...whose daughters are at constant risk of being "stolen" by the narcos...who are disguised as boys, made ugly, hidden in holes in the ground to protect them. It is a big world out there and not everyone is as fortunate as I to be living the life I do. Beautifully, simply, and painfully told story.

[nfmgirl2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

ReadMy rating:1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars[ 4 of 5 stars ]5 of 5 starsPreview read excerptPrayers for the Stolenby Jennifer Clement (Goodreads Author)4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 1,371 ratings · 312 reviewsA haunting story of love and survival that introduces an unforgettable literary heroineLadydi Garcia Martínez is fierce, funny and smart. She was born into a world where being a girl is a dangerous thing. In the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, women must fend for themselves, as their men have left to seek opportunities elsewhere. Here in the shadow of the drug war, bodies t ...moreHardcover, 224 pagesPublished February 11th 2014 by Hogarth (first published 2014)original titlePrayers for the StolenISBN0804138788 (ISBN13: 9780804138789)other editions (20) Prayers for the Stolen Prayers for the Stolen Prayers for the Stolen Varastettujen rukousten vuori Prayers for the Stolenall editions | add a new edition | combine...less detail edit detailsGet a copy: Amazon online stores ▾ Libraries download excerpt editMy ReviewJan 12, 2015rating 4 of 5 starsbookshelves blogging-for-books, ebooks, readedit shelvesstatus Read from February 03 to 17, 2015format Hardcover (edit)updates view all 2 status updatesreview Ladydi lives in a small mountain village in Mexico. The men have all left for work in the US, their families abandoned and left behind. Drug traffickers rule here, and young girls are in constant danger of being stolen for the slave trade. Because of this, mothers try to “make their daughters ugly” any way they can, to make them less desirable to the kidnappers. Ladydi was named thus by her mother in honor not of Lady Di the woman, but of the shame and sorrow Di bore by her husband’s infidelity-- something that Ladydi’s mother understands.Her mother is quite the character, being a vengeful, alcoholic kleptomaniac. She swears if she ever sees Ladydi’s father again, she will kill him dead!Then there are Ladydi’s friends-- the other girls from the village: her harelip best friend Maria, beautiful Paula, and Estefani.They live their lives on alert: on alert for kidnappers, stinging scorpions and ants and venomous snakes, evading helicopters dropping the herbicide Paraquat, which can cause permanent damage when it hits living flesh rather than poppy fields. There is always a sense of urgency to their lives conflicting with the slow, heated, languid pace of Mexican life.Life on the mountain is hard. There is never enough of anything, except heat and humidity, ants and scorpions.The only outsiders to ever come to the community are the teachers, volunteers who are required to serve a year in community service. They come with little understanding of mountain life, and are received with resentment by the likes of Ladydi's mother.They live in a world of women where women don't matter.This book is really hard to review. On the one side, I liked the easy-to-read style, the lovely little metaphors thrown in here and there. I liked most of the characters, particularly Ladydi. Some characters like Mike seemed almost pointless, shallow and one-dimensional, created solely for a single moment. Some events preposterous or improbable. After I finished the book, I found myself unable to discern my feelings. I think I liked it, but then I kind of questioned at moments while reading it "What is the point?" Effective writing, likable characters, a tragically charming story. Overall I liked this story, but I just fear that it will be forgotten all-too-soon.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl.”Ladydi (named after Princess Diana because her mother ‘loved any woman to whom a man had been unfaithful’) is the narrator of this powerful novel set in a small village in Mexico situated between the seaside resort of Acapulco and the compounds of the drug cartels. If the drug lords hear of a pretty girl, ‘they’d sweep onto our lands in Black escalades and carry the girl off’. As a result, there are only ‘boys’ born here who somehow become girls around the age of puberty but even then, when they hear a car or a helicopter, these girls must hide in holes to keep them safe because no girl has ever returned after being stolen…no one until Paula, ‘the most beautiful girl in Mexico’ who was stolen but returned one year later. No one knew how she got away from the cartels or how she managed to get home. She was fifteen when she returned, covered with cigarette burn scars and with a tattoo that declared her Cannibal's Baby.There are no men in Ladydi’s village; they have all gone to the United States in search of jobs which makes the girls easy pickings for the cartels. But it is not just the fear of kidnapping; it’s the oppressive heat, the insects, the scorpions, the snakes, the inadequate schools and health facilities because no one wants to come to this village for fear of the cartels and it’s the toxic herbicides dropped from planes on the poppy fields, infecting the children and the livestock, making them sick and shortening their lives.The story follows Ladydi and her friends through adolescence and after as well as describing those of their mothers. Their lives are stark and their fate is rarely in their own hands. This is a village and a country at the mercy of the cartels and the drug trade and these women and many more like them including the women Ladydi encounters later in prison are its victims. But despite the tragedy and unrelenting sorrow of their lives, author Jennifer Clement manages to suffuse the novel with humour and gives the women a sense of strength despite this constant adversity; they may be victimized but they never wear the mantle of victim. This novel will elicit empathy and perhaps anger but never tears – these women are too strong to be cried over. Prayers for the Stolen is a beautifully written novel. With its stark prose and dark portrait of these women, all of whom have had their lives stolen in some way, it is a powerful indictment of the drug trade and War on Drugs and the devastating effects it is having on the people of Mexico. But it is also a powerful portrait of human resilience, the ability of these people to rise above and to survive in a world completely stacked against them. It is a surprisingly hopeful tale set in a unrelentlngly bleak world and it is a completely engrossing read.

[xirxe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Mexiko ist es das Beste, wenn man ein hässliches Mädchen ist oder ein Junge.
Dass Frauen in vielen Gegenden dieser Welt unterdrückt, misshandelt und vergewaltigt werden, ist nichts Neues. Liest man jedoch diesen Roman, erhalten solche Fakten eine völlig andere Brisanz.
Die junge Ladydi erzählt uns von ihrem Leben im mexikanischen Guerrero, tief in den Bergen im Süden des Landes, wo Drogen- und Menschenhändler die Macht besitzen. Hier werden kleine Mädchen von ihren Müttern als Jungen verkleidet und als Teenager auf hässlich getrimmt: die Haare kurz geschnitten, die Zähne mit Filzer schwarz bemalt, alte Männerklamotten als Kleidung. Tauchen am Horizont SUVs auf, verstecken sich die Töchter in Erdlöchern. Dennoch werden immer wieder Mädchen entführt und verkauft, so auch eine der besten Freundinnen von Ladydi. Der Berg, auf dem sie mit ihrer Mutter wohnt, ist wie die übrige Gegend eine männerfreie Zone. Entweder sind die Brüder und Väter auf die Dealerseite gewechselt oder sie sind in die USA geflohen, wo sie ein neues Leben begonnen haben. Als Ladydi nach Acapulco geht um dort als Kindermädchen zu arbeiten, hofft sie die Schrecken ihrer Jugend hinter sich zu lassen. Doch nach kurzer Zeit findet sie sich in einem Alptraum wieder: sie wird des Doppelmordes an einem Drogendealer und seiner Tochter beschuldigt.
Jennifer Clement hat eine unglaublich bildhafte und direkte Sprache für ihre junge Protagonistin gefunden. Man sieht und fühlt die Szenarien unmittelbar vor sich und kann angesichts des alltäglichen Grauens und Elends, das die Frauen dort durchleben, nur ungläubig den Kopf schütteln. Es ist ein rauhes, heisses Land (über 40 Grad), das keinerlei Aussichten auf die geringste Chance einer Verbesserung verspricht. Die Drogenmafia regiert diese Gegend und man ist deren Wilkür vollkommen ausgeliefert.
Mir ist dieses Buch sehr nahe gegangen und ich kann nicht ausdrücken, wie dankbar ich dafür bin, in einem anderen Teil der Welt geboren worden zu sein.
Ansonsten bleibt nur, den letzten Satz von Ladydis Mutter zu wiederholen: Bete bloß, dass es ein Junge wird.

[quiltinfun06 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very insightful look into how the drug trafficking is affecting young women in Mexico. Though a fictional accounting, the author Jennifer Clement presents a very accurate accounting. This is definitely a book worth reading.

[brangwinn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Haunting in it's starkly told story, this book will remain with you long after you've read it. Ladydi , named after Princess Diana, lives in the Mexican state of Guerrero, on a road frequented by narcos in their fancy black Escalades. Girls are stolen and sold to drug lords. No men live in this village, they've all gone to the US to look for work. Girls are made as ugly as possible in the hopes they won't be stolen. I consider this a must read for any one who vacations in Mexico. This is a entirely different sad and almost hopeless story of innocent people caught up in the drug trade of Mexico.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I read the sentence, "The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl", I knew this book was going to be something special, a heartbreaker and I was right on both counts.Ladydi and her mother Rita live in a mountain community in Guerrero. Once a family community now there is not much left, the men are gone. Most to the United States where they find jobs, sending money home for a while and then finding new lives, abandoning their old. When the hear the SUV's coming, the girls hide in holes in the backyard so they are not stolen, but sometimes they are too late.This is the Mexico controlled by the drug cartels, where women and children, pretty girls are stolen for human trafficking or personal use by the leaders. They remain because they have little choice, little voice. Ladydi is accepting of her life, but questioning of the things she hears and sees. Her mother, a heavy drinker is alternately critical and loving, brisk, rude and at times even endearing. It would be easy because of the style of the writing, which is so matter of fact and humorous even, to dismiss this as a coming of age story. But this is the life these people have to love, to survive the best they can, to make sense of a life with few options. There is a horrible reality as the basis of this novel, of forgotten women and children at the mercy of the cartels.

[loveatfirstbook · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

You are a pretty girl. This is a bad thing because people will come and steal pretty girls. So your mothers black out your teeth with permanent marker. They dress you in boy clothes and dig holes in the ground for you to hide in when the large SUVs come by.This is Ladydi’s life, in a small town in Mexico in an area controlled by drug cartels.This is Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement.Prayers for the Stolen is intense. It’s unique and gritty. My favorite parts were of Ladydi as a young girl, but the book follows her as she grows, to a wealthy home in Acapulco and then to a women’s prison.For the full review, visit Love at First Book

[whitewavedarling · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Focused around a rural community on a mountain in Mexico, Clement's novel is written out of heartbreak, but surprisingly full of humor. The young narrator at the center of the work is a girl whose days revolve around trying to be ugly and mediating the world for her alcoholic mother. Both their lives revolve around fear--for one another, for their friends, for the real possibilities of being stolen by traffickers or simply forgotten by the world. As short as the work is, though, Clement's writing is full of a grace and sense of humor that make the situations and fears bearable, and even beautiful. In the end, I wanted the work to keep going, and that is the one fault of the work, that the ending is simply an ending, and perhaps too easy to be fair to the story or the communities they attempt to reflect. Still, this was well worth the reading, and a journey in itself.Overall, recommended.

[eyes92c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Startling, Shocking, Stark!I had been watching the U.S.-Mexican version of the series, The Tunnel, so when I saw this title I vaguely thought it might have something to do with disappeared young women in Mexico.It does! Really, anything one might say seems trite in the face of the grim truths related. It is a bleak comment on the fate of young girls and women in areas of Mexico. The story is set in the hillside area of Guerrero, an hour from Acapulco. An area that drug lords and dealers have ravaged. A place where the village men might be taken to work drug crops, or where they cross the Border into the U.S. to make a simple living. In the beginning they send money home. Then that dwindles into a trickle and into nothing as the men establish other families, U..S families, as part of their new lives. They women and families in Mexico are left behind, not widows or fatherless, just discarded. They are abandoned and powerless. They fall prey to the cartels, are there for the taking, for abuse, and more. So begins the dressing of girls as boys, the hiding in holes to avoid capture, as the trafficking in girls as young as seven escalates. As Ladydi's mother declares, 'The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl.'The stark, unadorned description about life in this part of Mexico is seen through the eyes of Ladydi Garcia Martinez from when a young girl. As Ladydi grows up, we grow with her and see life from her and her communities viewpoint. The lengths that these girls and their mothers go to to survive, and their ties to each other are amazing. There are betrayals, there are the stories of girls taken, like Ladydi's friend Paula. Later in prison, fellow prisoner Luna comments to Ladydi on the letters of the alphabet.'Can you believe there are only twenty-six letters to say everything? There are only twenty-six letters to talk.' I find this such a big thought! And Jennifer Clement uses these same twenty-six letters to bring us a 'tour de force.' We hear about stolen girls who mark themselves with virtual constellations of cigarette burns. So that when their bodies are found, authorities will know they were stolen. Then perhaps their families would be told. A story, a revelation of the darkness, the shadows that surrounds women in these areas of Mexico and the daily travesties that this darkness permits. And yet, even in prison there is some joy. In many ways prison is the safe place. A tragic indictment of what things have come to. Ladydi's story is beautifully and starkly written, as gold shining through the dross, and includes a legion of indomitable spirits.A NetGalley ARC