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Abductors
The Victorian Age will never seem the same to readers of this disquieting novel, which is at once an engrossing, unsettling drama and a startlingly explosive sociological exposé of an era more usually remembered for its elegance and propriety.Victoria’s reign apotheosized modesty and delicacy to the point of prudery, yet it also had its ugly underside. And of all the crawling things beneath the virtuous surface, none was more dreadful that the brutal traffic in young girls, many of them hardly more than children, who were abducted to stock the “knocking shops” of London and the most depraved bordellos of the Continent and South America. Far worse, such brazen lawlessness simply could not have existed without the knowledge and compliance of those in power, both socially and politically.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
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About the author
Stuart Cloete
67 books9 followersStuart Cloete was born in France in 1897 to a Scottish mother and South African father. (His ancestors had come from Holland with Jan Van Riebeck to establish a settlement for the Dutch East India Company).
He remembered his early years in Paris with nostalgia, but the ideal was shattered when he began his schooling in France and England. He never excelled academically and - in his own words - ‘learnt almost nothing'.
At the age of 17 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant (at the beginning of the First World War in 1914) into the Ninth King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, before later transferring to the Coldstream Guards. While nearly all of his early fellow officers and friends died, he survived four years of fighting in France and, for a while, was treated like a living lucky charm by the troops. He was seriously injured twice, and experienced amnesia induced by ‘shell-shock' which was largely left untreated. In a mental hospital in London, he met his first wife, a volunteer nurse, Eileen Horsman, and fell in love, even inducing a second breakdown with aspirin and whisky so he could see her again.
After recuperating in France, Cloete acted on his compulsion to identify with the land of his ancestors. He became a successful farmer in the Transvaal in South Africa. But as soon as he had established himself and achieved his aims he became restless again and began pondering a life as a writer. His eighteen year marriage floundered through growing incompatibility and Cloete's infidelity.
He sold up and left for England to become an author, leaving Eileen behind in South Africa. He recalled the decision to become a writer as the biggest gamble of his life. But, as it turned out, he hit the jackpot with his first novel, Turning Wheels, published in 1937. It sold more than two million copies, although it was banned in South Africa where it scandalized the authorities with its commentary on the Great Trek and a mixed-race relationship. Cloete was a prolific writer and went on to complete 14 novels and at least eight volumes of short stories.
On the way to America to promote Turning Wheels, Cloete met Tiny ( Mildred Elizabeth West) who later became his second wife. It was not love at first sight but eventually he realized he had found a soul mate. Tiny enjoyed the fruits of his success as a highly acclaimed writer and was his faithful companion until his death in Cape Town in 1976.
Cloete lived through a period of unprecedented upheavals and in his autobiography, published in the early 70s, he pondered whether ‘progress' was in fact a misnomer; it had ushered in colorless uniformity and even the threat of nuclear war. He also reflected on the chapters of his vagabond, eventful and, in his view, incredibly lucky life. He left behind no children.
He remembered his early years in Paris with nostalgia, but the ideal was shattered when he began his schooling in France and England. He never excelled academically and - in his own words - ‘learnt almost nothing'.
At the age of 17 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant (at the beginning of the First World War in 1914) into the Ninth King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, before later transferring to the Coldstream Guards. While nearly all of his early fellow officers and friends died, he survived four years of fighting in France and, for a while, was treated like a living lucky charm by the troops. He was seriously injured twice, and experienced amnesia induced by ‘shell-shock' which was largely left untreated. In a mental hospital in London, he met his first wife, a volunteer nurse, Eileen Horsman, and fell in love, even inducing a second breakdown with aspirin and whisky so he could see her again.
After recuperating in France, Cloete acted on his compulsion to identify with the land of his ancestors. He became a successful farmer in the Transvaal in South Africa. But as soon as he had established himself and achieved his aims he became restless again and began pondering a life as a writer. His eighteen year marriage floundered through growing incompatibility and Cloete's infidelity.
He sold up and left for England to become an author, leaving Eileen behind in South Africa. He recalled the decision to become a writer as the biggest gamble of his life. But, as it turned out, he hit the jackpot with his first novel, Turning Wheels, published in 1937. It sold more than two million copies, although it was banned in South Africa where it scandalized the authorities with its commentary on the Great Trek and a mixed-race relationship. Cloete was a prolific writer and went on to complete 14 novels and at least eight volumes of short stories.
On the way to America to promote Turning Wheels, Cloete met Tiny ( Mildred Elizabeth West) who later became his second wife. It was not love at first sight but eventually he realized he had found a soul mate. Tiny enjoyed the fruits of his success as a highly acclaimed writer and was his faithful companion until his death in Cape Town in 1976.
Cloete lived through a period of unprecedented upheavals and in his autobiography, published in the early 70s, he pondered whether ‘progress' was in fact a misnomer; it had ushered in colorless uniformity and even the threat of nuclear war. He also reflected on the chapters of his vagabond, eventful and, in his view, incredibly lucky life. He left behind no children.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 11, 2018
This is a book that stayed in my memory it is historical based on reality.
This book covers a period of social awakening that continues to this day. Basically, Cloete writes about the prevalence, acceptance and unspoken practice of considering women property, for the purpose of male sexual gratification. The practices of the time, Victorian England, went far beyond prostitution. There was a thriving trade in the sale of young girls (some barely walking), prepubescent and adolescent girls both domestically and to foreign interest on the continent.In many cases, these children were 'snatched' off the streets and kept prisoner and in 'servitude'. The girls that did survive felt so debased they didn't even try and return home if they did find freedom. And, it would've been doubtful if their families would've welcomed them back because they'd become 'soiled doves'.
As Cloete spins his tale, journalist/newspaper editor William Stead (a real person), begins a campaign to expose these evils and to raise the age of consent which, to that point in time, prevented prosecution in the unlikely event procurers or madams were charged with some kind of crime.
Cloete, however, is the first to admit in statements at the back of the book, that the exploitation of young women continues today and I would tend to agree. Au pairs (family helpers) in Great Britain and Europe are frequently lured to exotic places with the promise of jobs or vacations and promptly disappear. Yes, even in this century.
I enjoyed this book the 2nd time as much as the first ! It is still relevant today even though the conditions have been updated
This book covers a period of social awakening that continues to this day. Basically, Cloete writes about the prevalence, acceptance and unspoken practice of considering women property, for the purpose of male sexual gratification. The practices of the time, Victorian England, went far beyond prostitution. There was a thriving trade in the sale of young girls (some barely walking), prepubescent and adolescent girls both domestically and to foreign interest on the continent.In many cases, these children were 'snatched' off the streets and kept prisoner and in 'servitude'. The girls that did survive felt so debased they didn't even try and return home if they did find freedom. And, it would've been doubtful if their families would've welcomed them back because they'd become 'soiled doves'.
As Cloete spins his tale, journalist/newspaper editor William Stead (a real person), begins a campaign to expose these evils and to raise the age of consent which, to that point in time, prevented prosecution in the unlikely event procurers or madams were charged with some kind of crime.
Cloete, however, is the first to admit in statements at the back of the book, that the exploitation of young women continues today and I would tend to agree. Au pairs (family helpers) in Great Britain and Europe are frequently lured to exotic places with the promise of jobs or vacations and promptly disappear. Yes, even in this century.
I enjoyed this book the 2nd time as much as the first ! It is still relevant today even though the conditions have been updated
April 6, 2015
I've read this book three times in my life. Each time I have taken different things out of it. I only ever give a book five stars if I think it has changed my life, out-look, the way I think about things. Perhaps, because the first time I read it, I was a young teenager, it had never occurred to me that a girl could be captured and 'enslaved' against her will, and then accept her new life. The well researched historical aspect was also interesting.
July 30, 2016
The pulpy cover of my copy of this book promises sexy tales of Victorian prostitutes and good girls gone wrong. While there is certainly a bit of that in here, Cloete takes a more educational / women's rights angle and ends up with a book that is much more complex and enjoyable than its cover promises. With well drawn characters, interesting twists, and an appropriately Victorian interest in furnishings and fashion, this is a solid novel with social justice motive. While the book sometimes gets bogged down in the true story of British vice laws, there is a lot to like here. The appendix of primary source materials that brings the unsolved problem of coercion into prostitution into the late sixties (when this book was written) is both adorable and educational.
October 5, 2019
This is a brilliant book, written well before its time in social terms. Ostensibly about sexual slavery and human trafficking in Victorian England it is a novelised account of a celebrated legal case in which Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, and William Stead, a crusading newspaper editor arrange to kidnap a country girl, transport and sell her into a Paris brothel in order to demonstrate and expose the illicit trade in human flesh that was taking place on both sides of the Channel, and the ruthless rich and aristocratic individuals behind it. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, only to have the scheme backfire horribly when Stead is charged, sentenced and gaoled for ‘white slaving’ by the very forces he is striving to expose. Well worth reading, even today, as a reminder that this evil trade has never gone away, and is still in the hands of the same dark forces who pursue their goals while posing as leaders of society. It is also a prequel to Cloete’s even better novel of the Boer War, ‘Rags of Glory’.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews