The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey: A True Story of Sex, Crime and the Meaning of Justice

by Julia Laite

'Imaginative and compelling, impassioned and powerful, and deeply, deeply moving' Matt Houlbrook, author of Prince of Tricksters

Lydia Harvey was meant to disappear. She was young and working class; she'd walked the streets, worked in brothels, and had no money of her own. In 1910, politicians, pimps, policemen and moral reformers saw her as just one of many 'girls who disappeared'. But when she took the stand to give testimony at the trial of her traffickers, she ensured she'd never be forgotten.

Historian Julia Laite traces Lydia's extraordinary life from her home in New Zealand to the streets of Buenos Aires and safe houses of London. She also reveals the lives of international traffickers Antonio Carvelli and his mysterious wife Marie, the policemen who tracked them down, the journalists who stoked the scandal, and Eilidh MacDougall, who made it her life's mission to help women who'd been abused and disbelieved.

Together, they tell an immersive story of crime, travel and sexual exploitation, of lives long overlooked and forgotten by history, and of a world transforming into the 20th century.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, History, Crime, Audiobook, Historical, Feminism

432 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2021

Reviews

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

first things first: I need to thank my mysterious benefactor for sending me this book -- I don't know who you are, but thank you!

I've actually changed my mind in going back through the book and upped the star rating. Full post here:

http://www.nonfictionrealstuff.com/20...


The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey is a well-constructed and thoroughly engaging work of history which might best be described as narrative nonfiction, meaning that there is not only a story to be told here, but a central plot, if you will, with a young woman by the name of Lydia Harvey at its center. We learn in the first sentence of this book that in January, 1910, "just a few months shy of her seventeenth birthday, Lydia Harvey disappeared." That was her physical disappearance, but she also "disappeared again and again" in the stories told about her by others:

"She was no one. Who she was, what she wanted, what happened afterwards; none of this mattered. She joined a legion of missing girls, whose brief appearances in newspapers and books remained uncomplicated by their past experiences of poverty, abuse or their exploitation in other kinds of work."

While many of these women had stories told about them which ended

"condemned to a short life of misery, disease and degradation; they 'vanished forever beneath the slime of the underworld' and remained 'literally nameless and unknown,' "

Lydia, as we are told, "refused this story;" and did not, as the dustjacket blurb reveals, "vanish forever into the slime of the underworld" despite others' expectations.

At the outset the author reveals that there are "thousands of missing pieces to this puzzle," either lost, destroyed, or never made part of any historical record. Acknowledging that she had to weave "threads of imagination" into the information she discovered, she also notes that she has "followed careful rules" in doing so -- historical evidence exists for every detail offered in this story. Considering what she didn't have, she's done an excellent job here; not only is this book well researched, but the different perspectives that come to interconnect offer a more in-depth understanding of the individuals who made up part of Lydia's story as well as (quoting the dustjacket blurb) "the forces that shaped the twentieth century." I absolutely love reading history when it's written like it is here, in which an obscure figure from the past is given a voice and a life while all the while a clear picture of the world surrounding her takes shape. It is also amazing how much of this story continues to resonate in our own time, which I picked up on very early in the reading, but it is an idea runs throughout the book.

Very nicely done and very, very highly recommended.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has much going for it: a detailed, fascinating, exploration of the social and economic turmoil of the early twentieth century, and in particular those whose lives were lived on the margins. I found especially interesting the discussion around victims and abusers, how the boundaries were blurred; and how, for many, a life of prostitution was their only way to escape the life they were destined - and expected - to lead. The parallels with today's world were apposite, too.

Where it fell flat, for me, was in the breathless, exclamatory tone of the writer, who also went in for too much conjecture to fill in gaps. The writing was generally too florid. I also found the structure quite odd - there was a good deal of repetition as there inevitably would be when each character had their own chapter.

[Toni Kely-Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t usually like the use of “might have, possibly, likely, etc.” when reading historical non-fiction but I really enjoyed this. It was well-written and entertaining, and the extensive research the author undertook clearly shone through. I enjoyed the narrative style of focusing different chapters on a “player” in Lydia’s life, including the “pimp”, his wife, the Detective involved in the “white slave trade” narrative of the time (1910’s) and a woman who was helping young women on the streets.

The author also uses Lydia Harvey’s story to demonstrate the drivers more broadly for women to work in the sex industry, particularly young women who worked under challenging conditions for very little pay such as domestic service. These women could be easily exploited or even choose a life of travel and luxury earning more in one week as a sex worker than they would have in a year in a "proper" job. She shows the hypocrisy of a time where society's morality condemned the sex industry (including pimps and traffickers) but at the same time didn’t provide a safety net for those young women living in poverty (it’s not much different today really!).

The author also writes about the era's obsession with the ‘white slave trade’ particularly in the Antipodes and its myth of the of the innocent white young girl being lured into the sex trade in South America and England, when at the same time having no regard for women of colour. I guess its similar to today when the media covers murder victims – if she is white, innocent and attacked outside the home the headlines are everywhere but if she is a sex worker or a women of colour there is little outrage.

[Sarah AF · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inside the stories other people told about her, the real Lydia Harvey disappeared again and again. She was no one. Who she was, what she wanted, what happened afterwards: none of this mattered.

Written in a narrative style, this non-fiction work so effectively created the sense of time and place in telling the life of Lydia Harvey. Lydia, like so many other "white slaves", was so easily lost in headlines and statistics and Julia Laite brilliantly conveyed not only the sense of Lydia as a person and a life but also gave the same colour to the lives of the people who played significant roles in Lydia's life and journey as a young, vulnerable trafficked woman. In the early 20th Century, these women were both seen as the victim and the perpetrator, their only allies being women working in voluntary roles who operated with their own moral agenda and who were severely limited in the support that they could offer. Laite did not shy away from the appeal that sex work could hold for young women, particularly from the lower classes, sympathetically detailing the working limitations for women and how this could open them up to exploitation.

The research and consideration into tell this story of a woman who could so easily be lost to the confines of court papers was just exemplary.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A throughly well researched book, ostensibly about one teen girl who ended up in prostitution, but also about sex trafficking in the early 1900s and the social attitudes around the sex trade.

Lydia was 16 when she was promised a life of silk stockings and beautiful dresses, a pipe dream for a girl such as her who was destined to work in a shop or as a servant - minimal pay for backbreaking work over unbelievably long hours. In return, all she had to do was “go with men”, which was something she likely didn’t quite comprehend.

Told in six chapters from the viewpoint of various people featured in Lydia’s story, we learn not just about Lydia, but about the mass hysteria around sex trafficking (which wasn’t quite such a big deal as it was made out to be), the hypocrisy of a society that wanted girls and women to be young innocent virgins but also blamed and shunned them for the choices they made (or didn’t as the case may be), and the plight of women in general who were used as a flexible and cheap (or often free) labour force who were penalised for having dreams.

A very interesting and informative read.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lydia Harvey disappeared twice: once after she got on a steamship leaving New Zealand in 1910 for Buenos Aires, lured by a pimp into sex work, and again when her story disappeared beneath the waves of history (as most human stories do). Julia Laite engages, then, in a double recovery--finding the traces of what happened to her and recovering the larger ongoing story of human trafficking, sex work, poverty, and resistance of which her story is a part. It's a moving and important story, in which Laite traces out the lives and work of people associated with Lydia Harvey's story--pimps, sex workers, police officers, social workers, anti-vice activists, family members, immigration workers--unpacks the dreadful term "white slavery"--what it reveals and what it obscures about sex work and sexual abuse and race and gender and power, the stories we tell about evil villains and innocent victims and the more complex realities--and pays respect to the aspirations and longings of people who want more than life is offering them.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1910 an Italian man and his associate were in the docks of a London court accused of trafficking young women. One of the witnesses was teenage Lydia Harvey who had been encouraged to leave New Zealand for Argentina and then taken to England to work in the sex trade. Laite has done a brilliant job of piecing together the lives and movements of the people involved in this particular case, especially when little official record has survived and they're spread across different continents. This is a well-researched and engagingly written look at the trafficking of young women in the early 20th century.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the words of icona pop "i love it"

[Hannah Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great piece of social history. Only complaint is that the same events are told from the perspective of multiple people so it was a bit repetitive.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you liked Hallie Rubenhold's The Five, you will enjoy The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey. It is an incredible story of female exploitation, throughly researched and compelling to read. I listened to the audio narrated by Kristen Atherton which was superb.

[Thomas Land · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars/
73%

Took me a while to get through this one. Q1 and Q2 were filled with information and perspectives I had never really taken time to consider before. A personal story outlining a tale that applied to so many people; characters that could be transcribed across people's lives in the way that they influenced and ultimately affected our central protagonist.

It was moving, and painfully contemporary at times - and the amount of work and research it must have taken to spin this tale must have been huge.

However....while trying to give perspective on everyone's stories within the book (which meant some interesting things came to light) there was a very large amount of repetition in Q3 and the first half of Q4. An exceptional amount of repetition in fact, so much so that I put it down for just over a month. In combination with a generally slow paced method of telling, and a large amount of speculation in those sections, it left me wanting to get back to the point of this book - an explanation about the trade, about the victims, and the story of the lives the industry consumed. But going into so much detail about (without giving away too much information) the traffickers, and why they found themselves there, I did feel as though the author lost sight of what the book was trying to achieve.

But this was a triumph of research, and a painful reminder that no one's story is ever as simple as it may seem on the surface. The book covers a dark part of history that is never really taught, and so this author does an exemplary job at fulfilling that voice, and educating thoroughly. I absolutely recommend it with the warning that it does tend to go around in circles just a little, around the middle.

[Jane Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

well worth reading

An important insight into issues both about the last and the present using one well researched example, particularly the limited and mostly unpleasant choices facing women at the time, and the conflicting attitudes underpinning attempts to address the issues which we still see today in the criminalisation of women’s roles in the sex industry but very different attitudes and approaches to some elements of male involvement. I was particularly struck by the suggestion that some of the drive to “reform” women was partly driven by the wish to control and subjugate women who wanted their sense of freedoms, and to generate a cheap workforce. Although many women today in the UK and New Zealand (two of the countries mentioned in this book) have many more choices, I was left wondering to what extent women still have limited and sometimes unpleasant choices and how far we have to go so that all women can choose what the author points out Lydia said she wanted: safe, reasonably remunerated, valued and meaningful work, and the opportunities for travel, learning and leisure. I will read more round this subject now to increase my understanding.

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The disappearance of Lydia Harvey tells not only her story, but those of many girls like her who were taken advantage of in the early twentieth century. This book also examines the lives of girls and women who chose not to take the well-worn path to domestic servitude, those who through their own choices, ended up selling themselves, and others - after all 'it's silly to do it for free!'

This book is outstanding for really researching all the main players in this story, and putting those stories into context of the wider world stage, for Lydia travelled from New Zealand, to Argentina and then across to London. Lydia's story doesn't end with her but takes in the wonderful sounding Eilidh MacDougall who took her statement, to the man who paid for her passage across the oceans, who in turn was funded by his wife's illicit earnings. As a whole the book shines a light into the stereotypical stories of white slave trade.

The book also draws a parallel into the modern day where it isn't always quite as clear as everyone would have us believe on who the laws are supposed to serve.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young woman leaves NZ seeking adventure and higher earnings and is inviegled into prostitution in Buenos Aires and London. Her case becomes one of the few in London which could be taken to court with good evidence to successfully prosecute the men who arranged it and profited greatly.
Detailed research on women's limited employment prospects in 1910 in NZ and other countries, beginnings of improvement in the way police handled rape and exploitation cases. Despite the difficult and sad contents it is a compulsive read. My only misgiving is that I felt that I was being lectured about a third of the read, and the repitition already mentioned.
It made me contemplate women's choices today - in many countries just as limited or worse , and even in NZ /UK still there are some restrictions.

[Kt Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey. Julia Laite masterfully pieces together fragments of history to weave a compelling story about the dark side of the New Zealand and global sex trade. She builds the narrative around key individuals, bringing them to life with remarkable detail.

Despite the gaps in historical records, Laite is upfront about the use of conjecture, and it's easy to tell when this is employed. This transparency adds depth and honesty to her storytelling, making the historical narrative both engaging and credible.

I highly recommend this book. It has lingered in my mind since I finished it, and I understand why Laite felt compelled to delve deeper into the lives of these otherwise forgotten, real people.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extraordinarily well researched book that traces a rarely documented case of a victim of the global phenomenon of the turn of the 20th Century - the "white slave trade". Lydia Harvey, a young New Zealander, is conned by the promise of a better life, of fine clothes and release from the only other life on offer - the drudgery of service or marriage. Taken first to South America and then to London, Laite has done an amazing job of researching this story which she tells in individual chapters through the eyes of those involved, Lydia, the pimp and his partner(s), the police, the reformer etc. Although this leads to some repetition it also highlights the attitudes of the times and the actions and motivations of those involved.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant research uncovers a compelling history of a young New Zealand woman groomed into the sex-trafficking trade of the 1910s. Events switched from there to Buenos Aires, London, Paris and Australia as the author tells the stories of Lydia, the couple who lure her into the sex trade, the social worker who helps her and the London detective who exposes her abusers. The narrative also provides fascinating context of the issues surrounding this trade, such as how the 'white slavery' hoo-haa of the time was largely an attempt to control women and sex work is a complex world that defies simplistic explanations. A first-rate piece of research that becomes an absorbing true-life account.

[Lesley McIntosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was lent to me to read as I live in Oamaru , the town in New Zealand where Lydia Harvey grew up .
It is a very solid read and at time repetitive but author Julia Laite has told the story of Lydia from multiple points of view , from the people associated with Lydia
I felt sad and frustrated for Lydia to be caught up in the cruel world of sex trafficing but felt so proud she was able to stand up in court and get these vile people convicted
The cover is exquisite, so reflective of the early 20 century and the notes to the rear of the book are helpful and I felt the photographs throughout added depth to the sordid tale of The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey.

[Ann Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Centered around the case of Lydia, Julia Laite provides us a landscape of white slavery in the early twentieth century. From biographical elements to general information about several cities around the world, no stone is left unturned. It’s well written and, even though a non fiction, gives sensible and sensitive analysis of what it must have been and felt.
My only critic is that, as the book explores the lives and circumstances of many protagonists in the case, many chapters focus on one protagonist and there are often repetitions, especially in the later chapters.

[Natalie Pithers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A panoptic view of one person's life. Julia weaves between storytelling and historical detail expertly, whilst never falling into flights of fantasy.

I particularly enjoyed the variety of individuals that Julia explored in order to tell Lydia Harvey's story from differing perspectives and to tease out different historical contexts.

Ultimately I was left moved by Lydia's story and eager to find out more about women in the early 20th Century and how they navigated financial pressures and suffocating societal expectations, often whilst lacking any means of self advocacy.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look into the increasingly globalised world of sex work and trafficking at the beginning of the 20th century. The author follows the liives of all the people involved both before and after the pivotal court case. I was especially happy with how the author places this case in the context of its time and the larger conversations about sex trafficking that were happening at the time, as well as the damage that discourse wrought.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well researched and shocking true story of Lydia Harvey who was trafficked into the sex trade in the early 20th century. The author really brings her to life and explains the economic circumstances that led women and girls into dangerous situations. She also makes the valid point that similar situations still exist for many, many women and girls across the world.

I didn't give it 5 stars as at times there was a bit of repetition but otherwise a really great book.

[Katie Hull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally finished my book from grandad for Christmas! Struggled with this as it was so detailed, but the research that had gone into finding out about Lydia harvey, who was sex trafficked in the early 20th century, was amazing. Each chapter analysed a different person in her life/ in the story. Hard to keep track of everyone but glad I finished it:)

[Elaine Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

An utterly fascinating, frank and kind exploration of the true story of Lydia Harvey that gently teaches us so much about research, archives and history as well as weaving a rich narrative about Lydia and the people that preyed on her, and the people who helped her. I could not put this down. Highly recommend.

[Helen Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fascinating read ostensibly about the story of Lydia Hardy but really about sex trafficking and prostitution and how young vulnerable girls are tempted by easy money. Interesting how the sex racket operated in New Zealand and Australia too.

[Kt Wakeling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly researched, really delves in to all the different people involved in a way that humanised them. Definitely will do more research into Eilidh MacDougall because the work she did was fantastic. Very interested in reading more from this author

[James Wolfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, however it did not need to be as long as it was. About half way through the author just repeated the same story for different, similar perspectives that added no additional insight or intrigue.

[Janin · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good!

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. I can't even imagine how much time the author spent researching the information that went into every single sentence. Lydia Harvey's story will definitely stay with me.

[Stanzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling and thoroughly researched biography. Far from sensationalism, this is a highly readable academic work.