Jane (her name is not Jane) lives on a farm in the east of England. The farm belongs to Lenn, her husband (he is not her husband) and it stretches across the flat fenland to a far horizon. She would leave if she could; if her ankle had not been smashed and wrongly reset, if the consequences for her sister would not be so disastrous.
Thanh Dao (her real name) was trafficked to the UK from Vietnam and is held captive on the farm by Lenn who through violent coercion and psychological control extracts wifely duties – domestic and sexual - from her. One by one, Thanh Dao’s meagre possessions are burned in the Rayburn stove as punishment for transgressions, loosening her grip on her identity, pushing ever closer to becoming Jane.
Will Dean paints a horrific picture as he introduces these domestic arrangements on the farm. The contrast between Thanh Dao and Lenn’s perspectives is chilling. It is impossible not to share Thanh Dao’s suffering and hopelessness. But not quite hopeless. She grasps at straws, we root for her, even as they slip from her grasp. And when things cannot get worse, things get worse.
The narrative,
carried by Thanh Dao, is riveting and while the spotlight is unrelentingly
shone on modern slavery, the characters, even the despicable Lenn, are nuanced.
Tension builds to a fine climax, the last thing that could be burnt is
unthinkable, but not impossible.
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