There are few books harder to read than actress, activist and now author Lisa Harding’s first novel Harvesting, a story of two young victims of sex trafficking. The story is beautifully composed, alternating between two engaging first person perspectives – spiky, 15-year-old Samantha from Dublin, and sensitive Nico from Moldova, who is just turning 13.

Harding became aware of sex trafficking in Ireland when the Children’s Rights Alliance asked her to read monologues written by young girls trafficked into Ireland. Although the subject matter is harrowing, Harding paints word pictures, outlining what is happening to the girls, but allowing the reader to fill in the details.

“I was very conscious of writing nothing too graphic,” Harding explains. “I didn’t want to sensationalise it or even describe sex through a long lens. What I wanted to do was stay close inside their minds as a kind of study in trauma instead of sexual abuse – but it is. We know it’s happening.”