Sold

Content Warning: These Chapter Summaries & Analyses discuss upsetting topics, including child sex trafficking, the commercial sexual exploitation of children, physical abuse, and death by suicide.

Thirteen-year-old Lakshmi helps her mother, Ama, hang laundry while Ama laments that their roof is leaky and needs to be fixed. Wealthier neighbors have tin roofs that keep the rain out and last longer, but Lakshmi’s family cannot afford such a roof because her stepfather has lost function in one arm, rendering him supposedly unemployable. He also has a gambling problem. (Lakshmi’s biological father has died.) Lakshmi wants to go to the city and work as a maid for a wealthy family, like her school friend, Gita, but Ama wants Lakshmi to stay in school. The main source of income for the family is their garden of vegetables and their rice crops, which they sell to make money. Lakshmi’s parents have already arranged for her to marry a shy boy named Krishna, and Lakshmi likes him and daydreams about their future together.

Lakshmi’s family lives in a remote mountain village in Nepal, which she has never left, and she knows little about the world beyond. She completes chores every morning, accompanied by her affectionate goat, who sometimes even follows her to school. Ama says that they are lucky to have a man in the family, even though he never works and gambles away the money that Ama and Lakshmi earn. The men he gambles with compare daughters to goats, seeing them as only useful for profit, and not worth getting emotionally attached to (as opposed to sons, who are worthy). Death and disease are common. Each season comes with different chores and different dangers: cold, fever, flooding, drought, crop failure, “coughing disease,” and more. Women climb mountains to find firewood and make ink from tree sap. Some houses, like Gita’s, have modern technologies like electricity, but not all. Lakshmi has a baby brother, but her family tries not to get too attached to him yet because they know that infant death is very common; four other siblings of hers have already died.

Lakshmi gets her first period and must stay confined in the goat shed for seven days until she has “purified.” That evening, her mother visits to explain the new social rules that now apply to her. Lakshmi must stay covered with her shawl, avoid eye contact with men, and avoid being alone with any men other than family members). She is instructed that if she looks at vegetables during her period, they will rot. Later, when she gets married, she will not be permitted to eat until after her husband is finished, and which point she can have his leftovers. She must always sleep with him if he wants to and must hope to bear a son, whom she should breastfeed until he reaches the age of four. If she has a daughter, she should only breastfeed her for a few months so that she can get pregnant again more quickly and try to bear a boy. Lakshmi asks why being a woman involves so much suffering, and Ama says that simply to endure is enough. Lakshmi spends the seven days daydreaming about her future with Krishna, although she has to wait until the following year until a date will be set for the wedding. (The novel never states how long it will be until the actual wedding). She admires Krishna because he is athletic, silly, and shy.

The dry season arrives, and 50 days pass with no rain. Lakshmi and Ama both make 20 trips down the mountain and back up to gather water, while her stepfather naps wearing nothing but a loincloth. The village headmen start rationing water, and 10 additional days pass with no rain. Ama makes offerings to the goddess and prays for rain. Lakshmi’s stepfather says that if much more time passes without rain, Ama will have to sell her earrings, which she has been saving as dowry for Lakshmi’s wedding and would never before have considered selling. The next morning, Lakshmi’s stepfather is missing, and so are her cucumbers—he has gone to sell them to Bajai Sita, a trader woman. She and Ama water the other plants in silence.

Finally, the rainy season arrives, and Lakshmi’s baby brother is still alive and seems delighted at the sound of raindrops leaking through the roof into pots and pans. This turn of events improves Ama’s mood. One night, Lakshmi’s stepfather goes out to gamble at the tea shop. Ama smokes one of his cigarettes and gives Lakshmi some popcorn. Both of them consume their special treats while daydreaming about the future, hoping to one day be able to fix the roof, buy fabric for new dresses, eat cakes, and acquire other simple pleasures to enjoy together.

The rainy season turns into a monsoon that lasts eight days. Everyone says it is the worst monsoon season in years, and the headmen pray to the holy man, asking it to stop. The heavy rain destroys Lakshmi’s family’s rice crop, devastating Ama. Lakshmi’s stepfather announces his plans to travel two villages over to ask his brother for a loan. After he is gone for eight days, Lakshmi wonders whether he will ever come back. Ama says that she is going to the village to sell the family’s chickens; the baby is getting fussy from starvation, although Ama and Lakshmi are used to not eating for a while. When Ama returns, the earrings are gone too. People come to the door to collect money; the landlord wants rent, and various other people want loans repaid, so Ama doles out the cash. With the money left over, they buy lentils and rice to eat and give the baby fruit and curds, making him healthy and happy again. However, Lakshmi worries, because the money will run out eventually, and she also assumes that her stepfather most likely still has debts to pay, especially to the owner of the tea shop where he frequently gambles.

Lakshmi’s stepfather finally returns wearing a fancy coat and hat, which he won while gambling. The Festival of Lights arrives, and the community honors crows, dogs, and the goddess Lakshmi (for whom the protagonist is named) for several days with various rituals and offerings. On the night to honor Lakshmi, the stepfather says it is a lucky night for gamblers and goes to the tea shop. Ama slips Lakshmi a coin and tells her to buy herself a cake like the other kids. Lakshmi objects, saying that she is no longer a child and doesn’t need a cake, but her mother says that she is a child for tonight. While Lakshmi eats the cake, a woman from the city tells Lakshmi that city girls have pretty dresses and eat cakes and fruit every day. When Lakshmi asks the woman whether she is a maid, she doesn’t answer, but she does ask whether Lakshmi would like to come with her to the city, referring to herself as “auntie.” Lakshmi returns to Ama but is afraid to tell her about the woman.

Lakshmi’s stepfather returns with a motorcycle, something Lakshmi has never seen before, and Lakshmi cannot see how it might be useful. Ama whispers that maybe they can trade it to Bajai Sita for food and supplies that they actually need. However, the next day, Lakshmi’s stepfather goes to the tea shop to boast about his motorcycle and new clothes but returns that evening with none of these things. The next morning, Ama cries and won’t get out of bed. When she finally gets up, she says that her husband has decided that Lakshmi must go work as a maid in the city. Lakshmi is pleased at the idea of sending money home so that her family can buy a new roof and other necessities. Ama explains the “city rules” to Lakshmi, including the specific ways that maids are expected to clean and when they are allowed to sleep and eat. She says that maybe Lakshmi will be able to visit home next year during festival season.