A Girl Worth More

by Joanne Phillips, Shannon Kyle

The courageous story of an ordinary middle-class girl trafficked into a sex slave ring

Joanne Phillips’ ordeal began aged 13 when she was gang-raped in her bedroom by local boys. Following the trauma, she dropped out of school, was befriended by an older man and was forced into prostitution aged 16.

Over the next six years, she was raped by over 500 men, starved, beaten, and transported around the country to brothels. Forced to have sex with men from all walks of life including lawyers, stockbrokers, doctors, a parish councillor, Joanne was even made to have sex with her former school headteacher—who didn’t recognise her.

Every attempt to flee failed. Police warned her mother and stepdad she had chosen the lifestyle and even threatened to charge her parents with living off immoral earnings if they allowed her to move back. Escape seemed impossible, until one day she couldn’t take any more.

Just before her 21st birthday, Joanne escaped her enslavement. After being left alone briefly in a London flat, where she was expected to work, she took a chance after finding a bag of money and a handgun. Fearing for her life, she fled into the night with nothing but a plastic bag of cash. After catching a train to Northern Ireland, she found her real dad and hid at his home from her pimp.

Desperate to readjust to normal life, she found a job and went on to study at university. But when she tried to explain to a new boyfriend about her past, he didn’t believe any of it was true, so she vowed to keep the abuse a secret—until years later, a conversation with one of her own teenage daughters changed her life...

Genres: Nonfiction

285 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 17, 2022

About the author

Joanne Phillips lives Cheshire, England with her nine-year-old daughter Lulu, and spends her days (and often nights!) writing commercial fiction, romantic comedies and contemporary mysteries. Her first novel, Can’t Live Without, was an Amazon top 100 bestseller in 2012, and the stand-alone sequel, The Family Trap, won the coveted SpaSpa award in 2013 for Best Romantic Comedy.
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Joanne developed a love of writing early on, when she would retreat into imaginary conversations and invent fantasy worlds. She carried on writing through her twenties, studying with The Writers’ Bureau and the Open University, and has recently completed a Masters in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.
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Her latest novel, This Beautiful World, was shortlisted for the Luke Bitmead award, and also made it to the shortlist for publication with the renowned Valley Press. Joanne is currently working on a new 'domestic noir' thriller and the next Flora Lively mystery.

Reviews

[Erica⭐ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is not a nice one but it is a necessary one, shining a light on Grooming, Rape, Abuse, Prostitution and Trauma.
The story describes how easily a girl can be groomed and forced into a life of vileness, no matter what their background might be.
It is usually easy for onlookers to say how differently they would react in a similar situation, and how they would have escaped such troubles. Its good that this book describes the mental and emotional toll on the victim which can then effect the outcome.
This book highlights many failings whether that be from a parent, police, social services and authorities. Let’s hope more books like this one help educate society that modern slavery still exists.

[Robin Ramone · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gritty account of the disgusting “business” of child trafficking and the authorities who turned a blind eye, for decades. It’s more out in the open now, but it is still unfortunately, a thriving operation all over this country. These crimes should be front page news and the perpetrators should get the death penalty if found guilty. They have proven by preying on mainly female children they have nothing to offer society. The money it costs to house, feed, and take care of their medical and legal needs in prison should be put to productive uses.

To the author - Joanne Phillips, I am so sorry this has happened to you. I am angry at the justice system for favouring and supporting criminals. I am sorry for the pathetic and weak government, police, and (dirty/pedo) councilman who all should have done something to help you out. I am sorry for all the victims who are currently being abused. I see the government wasting money everyday and I think about how it should be going to causes like this one and it makes me very sad.

[Kate ❀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is definitely a tough read about Joannes abuse that she went through from a young age into her adult life. Such a brave woman to come out and tell her story and raise awareness of this ongoing abuse, and working hard to support others who have been through similar.

The book was written very well but of course hard to read because of the content. Lots of trigger warnings.

[Vicki Swift · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because I live in Telford and want to be informed about the awful child sexual exploitation that has happened here. ‘A Girl Worth More’ is a shocking account of abuse, control, neglect and ignorance - as well as Joanne’s bravery at overcoming her past to fight for change and help other victims.

The only reason I’ve given it 4 stars is because, unlike other similar books by Holly Archer and Scarlett Jones, this isn’t actually about the Telford gangs as it claims on the cover. Joanne does suffer abuse at the hands of schoolboys in Telford, but the men she is groomed and trafficked by are based in Dudley and the majority of her sad story happens there. I may be being naive here and they are all one and the same, but I think it would have been more appropriate to say ‘West Midlands sex slave ring’.

[Sharon Rodway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very good and sad how the young girl was let down by all authorities, even today as she is battling to get her convictions removed. I’d 100% recommend

[Georgina Abbotts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joanne should be proud of her self for sharing her ordeal with the world.this had my in tears in places.im so glad Joanne found Holly archer and that she joined Holly's project.because Joanne has wrote this and Holly I'm sure this will help other victims of gangs come forward and get all the help and support they need.what a failing system we live in more needs to.be done to support the victims.how is a sorry going to help what all these victims went through they have had their life's turned up side down.i can't imagine how these survivors are feeling.my own situation is different but the trauma from everything the nightmares.more support needs to be shown and as for the criminal records it wasn't the girls faults they shouldn't have these criminal records.dont people think the survivors went through enough without having limited carers.thank you for sharing everything you went through Jo x

[Bryony Best · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Girl Worth More -
Author - Joanne Phillips with Shannon Kyle

Triggers - Rape - Violence - Trauma
This book is a true story and is not for the faint hearted.
The story is not a nice one but it is a necessary one, shining a light on Grooming, Rape, Abuse, Prostitution and Trauma.
The story describes how easily a girl can be groomed and forced into a life of vileness, no matter what their background might be.
It is usually easy for onlookers to say how differently they would react in a similar situation, and how they would have escaped such troubles. Its good that this book describes the mental and emotional toll on the victim which can then effect the outcome.
This book highlights many failings whether that be from a parent, police, social services and authorities. Let’s hope more books like this one help educate society that modern slavery still exists.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely harrowing at times I had to stop listening. The detail of the horrific abuse this girl suffered has no words. Not only was she abused by every man she met, she was victimised by her own family, especially her Mother. Who Christ all mighty went on to mother another girl! Everyone should read this, especially females.

This is happening now and just because many choose to ignore it doesn’t mean it stops. These girls are victims of a self absorbed society who are tunnel visioned to what’s on trend to protest and get angry about, rather than real issues of monumental scale.

Thank you for this book and, opening my eyes on how long these girls and women have suffered. I wish I knew how to make a difference and stop this systematic abuse of Northern white girls. It sickens me to the core!

[Polly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t enjoy this book at all. The reasons being was that on the front cover it clearly says that Joanne was a victim of the telford grooming gang yet through out her book her abuse is based in Dudley and around the West Midlands. I find this to be misleading and can not understand why she has claimed abuse in telford when it clearly wasn’t. It made the story seem overly unauthentic and I struggled to connect to the storyline. It also appears the author maybe somewhat older than those originally part of the telford grooming. It was a very messy book and one that has gone straight into the bin.

[Leanne Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although brutal in parts, this book is both compelling and inspiring. The author tells her story clearly and with good pacing. The reader gets a shocking view into the lives of girls who are treated like modern slaves and robbed of their self-esteem and relationships. The epilogue is a wonderful antidote to what has gone before. We learn about the ways in which Jo's life has turned around and the work she has since done to help the victims of prostitution in England. Overall, her story is a testimony to the human will to triumph over her fear by making a difference in the world. A

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: graphic accounts of sexual assault, violence and exploitations.

It feels wrong to give such a harrowing book 5 stars but Joanne deserves them for her bravery and courage.

Couldn’t put the book down but needed to take breaks from reading the depravity she faced from such a young age, every girl in this book broke my heart and i’m thrilled that some of them like Jo managed to find some healing and get out of that life, i hope that the others did too.

[Sara Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely HORRIFIC. I came across this audiobook because it was narrated by one of my favorite readers, Aoife McMahon. This took me a long time to get though because many times if was too rough to keep listening. The ending and epilogue make it all worth it and I now feel much more educated on something I knew virtually nothing about. I feel like every person who reads this will benefit in some way.

[Amanda-Kate]

I always feel a bit apprehensive when clearly false details are included. In chapter 20, Susan is wearing a Juicy Couture tracksuit....except this is 1992 & Juicy Couture wasn't even founded till 5 years later, and their tracksuit wasn't even created until the early 00's. Nobody was wearing the Juicy Couture tracksuits in 1992...they didn't even create one until 2001. Front cover also refers to being 'trafficked into the Telford sex slave ring'.

[Megan Race · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever been this gripped by a book. Such a harrowing “story” revealing the truth behind child sexual exploitation and trafficking. About half way through I discovered it is actually a memoir which shook & disturbed me even more. The depictions of Joanne’s past are almost unbelievable. Every time I put this book down I was thinking about the next opportunity to pick it up. Really would recommend this book.

[Jane Bohannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

a very interesting read, as most of the story is based on fact.

Prostitution on a scale that is quite hard to beleive. Police and social services being aware of the culture and really doing nothing to help the victims. Although it does seem for some strange reason most of the time that do not want to be helped, they say they do but can't resist their pimps.

[mrs elizabeth skey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Caro Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A desperately upsetting but real book.

[Rebecca Fowkes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant book, I couldn't put it down. Definitely recommend reading it.

[Naomi Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read and make you feel sorry for the characters

[Aura Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible story of a young girl's descent into human trafficking. The thought process and logic that takes place in the mind of a victimized and abused person. An inspirational story of survival.

[Helen Sykes · Rating 4 out of 5]

So powerful, so hopeless, so sad. I actually wanted to shake her mother. I'm not sure how a mother could be so unkind to their child. A very tough read.

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

i feel so bad for her... i hope she is now ok.

[Roxy Welsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually can’t believe how there is that much cruelty in the world and the people who are supposed to protect and bring justice turn their backs. Speechless.

[Michelle Dickerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So depressing and sad!!! The system sucks EVERY WHERE!!! 😞

[jeanette croyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough read about sex trafficking , but good story and the ending how she now helps women is amazing .

[Geneiveve “Annie” Jannetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another horrific story about sexual abuse and child abuse. It is heartbreaking to read.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

has nothing to do with the telford grooming gangs and misleading.

[Gillian M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up reading within a few pages as it made no sense and she refers to herself as the third person throughout, also has nothing to do with the telford grooming gangs. She also appears racist without maybe intending to. Overall a boring read with a lot of inconsistencies