Banbury psychologist's book on child exploitation tops the Amazon charts

Smuggled - Angela Karanja's book, which has got to the top of Amazon's best sellers' list

A Banbury psychologist's book on child exploitation has topped Amazon best-seller charts.

Angela Karanja’s book – Smuggled – has hit number number one in three categories of the Amazon Bestseller list in the UK and USA.

In this book teenagers are the heroes when a ‘child next door’ emerges as a victim of trafficking and exploitation.

"The issues in the book are so prevalent and it's important we talk about them. And as an adolescent psychologist, I love to empower teenagers,” said Ms Karanja, whose work offering help to parents whose children suffer mental health issues has been highlighted in the Banbury Guardian.

Angela Karanja whose book, Smuggled, has reached the top of three categories in the Amazon best sellers list

“Child trafficking, exploitation, and modern-day child slavery is a painfully huge global concern. More surprising is how this menacing crime easily happens right next door to us, under our noses,” she said.

“Imagine one of thousands of enslaved children silently screaming next door to you? Or coming across a young shy face who, when you get to know them, reveal a shocking story of their arrival in the UK and how they are the house worker for their host family - your neighbour?” said Ms Karanja, of Sussex Drive.

These scenarios became the subject of Smuggled after the author heard about numerous cases of this crime.

Ms Karanja propels the story in the form of a psychological thriller to present a grandstand view of the crime, its victims, perpetrators, bystanders and revolutionists.

The front cover of Smuggled - a book about child exploitation

The book shifts from an impoverished village in Kenya to affluent areas in the UK. The author maps the journey Tuliana, who is transported from a shabby shack to a mansion where she is illegally adopted, accepted, even feels loved and belonging, yet she is a cash cow – a slave.

The book presents hints of a crime that continues to blossom because victims feel both helpless and don’t know they are victims, perpetrators are more cunning and conniving, bystanders don’t know what they see and even when their intuition tells them something is not right, they haven’t got the courage to act.

But this all changes when a teenage revolutionist leads a campaign to find Tuliana. A campaign that disrupts world leaders forcing them to stop, listen and act.

Smuggled is recommended for teenagers, parents, teachers and anyone who cares and is concerned about the scourge of child trafficking.