First published 2015
Ladydi's mother cuts her hair short and rubs dirt on her face. "The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl," she warns. In their mountain village, drug cartels hunt for beautiful young women. When black SUVs appear on the winding roads, Ladydi and her friends scramble into hidden holes dug across the mountainside. The stolen girls never return home. Ladydi dreams of escape, of finding something beyond this daily terror. She believes the cities will offer safety and opportunity. But when she finally leaves the mountain behind, she discovers the cartels control more than rural villages. Their reach extends everywhere, and danger follows her into urban streets. Ladydi must navigate a world where being female means being prey, where survival requires constant vigilance and sacrifice.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, crime, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: female-protagonist, survival
Setting: Mexico
Period: 21st-century
240 pages · Paperback · Vintage
Content warnings: trafficking, violence