The novel centres on the life of 9-year-old Astarte and her parents. What made them a family? What will keep them together, when forces bigger than themselves threaten to tear them apart?
Everything begins when Astarte gets abducted by child-traffickers. Mum and Dad respond differently to the crisis. They hire private detectives to assist the police in their search for their daughter. Dad comes up with a desperate plan to infiltrate the world of childtrafficking and find his daughter that way. Mum spirals into drug-induced apathy.
And what about Astarte ? She tries to cope with a stoicism that throws her abductors off. Astatrte jumps off the third floor into the air-shaft at the back of the building she is kept.
The book has two endings, running parallel on the page. In neither ending is it clear if Astarte survives.
In spite the book’s controversial subject (child trafficking and molestation), it is characterised by keep compassion and an original sense of humour. Its extra-diegetic comments and non-linear asides make for a very original piece of writing.
Metaixmio, 2003, 300 p.
