House Boy

House Boy is a grimly real thriller exploring the tragedy of human trafficking through the tragic experiences of a young Indian man, Vijay, who, persuaded that there are great opportunities for him to come and work in England, instead finds himself forced into domestic slavery. I was strongly reminded of Mende Nazer's powerful memoir, Slave, and a note at the conclusion of House Boy acknowledging the man whose actual life inspired this novel reminded me that slavery is sadly still far from being a thing of the past.

DeStefano's detailed prose does make House Boy a difficult novel to read emotionally as readers bear witness to the appalling way in which Vijay is treated by his 'owner' and her son. I did wonder, at times, whether we did quite so many sickeningly intense scenes following on from each other, reinforcing the images we already had. I was particularly intrigued by the reactions of the few visitors to the house, all of whom were only too aware what was going on yet either would not risk their own relationships with Bindsa to intervene or did not seem to see anything wrong in the way she abused her house boy.

I think that House Boy is an important novel for raising awareness of a human tragedy that is all too often kept out of sight, its victims often also unfairly blamed for the predicament in which they find themselves. I'm not sure I would class it as a thriller myself, although its later courtroom scenes could appeal to crime fiction readers and the social commentary makes this quite different to other London novels I have read.