40 Fun Facts About Sold (Novel)

In the novel Sold, Lakshmi is taken from her Himalayan village in Nepal to a brothel in which country?

India is where a trafficker leads Lakshmi, coaching her to pose as his wife at the border crossing. She still believes honest work in a rich family's home is waiting for her.

In the novel Sold, what does Lakshmi hope her city wages will buy for her family back in Nepal?

A tin roof is the mark of a family that is getting by in Lakshmi's village, where her own home has only leaky thatch. Her mother would rather she stayed in school than worked to pay for one.

In the novel Sold, which member of Lakshmi's household hands her to a stranger in exchange for money?

Her stepfather strikes the bargain at a village shop, then spends the first payment on luxuries for himself. Lakshmi goes willingly, believing she is leaving to earn wages for the family.

In Patricia McCormick's Sold, what is the misleading name of the brothel where Lakshmi is held captive?

Happiness House is the name of a place where girls are locked in, beaten and cheated of their earnings. Lakshmi walks in full of hope, sure that she has found honest work.

In the novel Sold, which woman runs the brothel and cheats Lakshmi out of the little she earns?

Mumtaz tells Lakshmi she must work until the sum paid for her is repaid, then deducts fees such as interest and electricity so that it never shrinks.

In the novel Sold, Lakshmi nicknames a boy at the brothel after which athlete whose jersey he wears?

David Beckham is the footballer whose shirt an eight-year-old at the brothel wears. The boy lives there with his mother, goes to school and earns coins by running errands.

In the novel Sold, which soap opera do the girls of the brothel gather to watch on television?

The Bold and the Beautiful, a glossy serial about a Los Angeles fashion family, plays on the brothel's television. Lakshmi cannot understand how the girls laugh at it with the night's work ahead.

In the novel Sold, what job does Lakshmi believe awaits her when she leaves her village in Nepal?

A maid in a rich woman's home is the work she is promised, the same job her best friend left the village to take. Her mother even gives her a list of rules for life in a city household.

The heroine of Patricia McCormick's Sold shares her name, Lakshmi, with the Hindu goddess of what?

Wealth and fortune belong to the goddess Lakshmi, a bitter irony for a girl whose family's poverty costs her her freedom. In the story, Ama's husband trusts the same goddess to favour gamblers.

In Sold, the man who poses as a customer to gather evidence against the brothel is of what nationality?

American customers are the ones the other girls have warned Lakshmi to fear. She has to decide whether to trust a stranger who asks if she wants to leave.

In the novel Sold, what is the name of Lakshmi's pet goat, which once trails her to school?

Tali is a black-and-white speckled goat that follows Lakshmi everywhere, and her mother jokes that the animal takes Lakshmi for its own mother.

In the novel Sold, which vegetables does Lakshmi grow outside the family hut and give individual names?

Cucumbers are her pride, each one given a name, until Ama's husband sells them during a drought and gambles the money away.

In the novel Sold, which best friend of Lakshmi leaves their village first to work in the city?

Gita sends home wages that buy her family cooking pots, school fees and an electric light, a novelty in the village. Lakshmi is lonely without her.

In the novel Sold, which young goatherd from her village has Lakshmi been promised to marry one day?

Krishna is the shy boy she daydreams about during her week of confinement, and she steals a last glance at him as she is led away from the village.

In Patricia McCormick's Sold, what destroys the family's rice crop shortly before Lakshmi is sent away?

Monsoon rains follow weeks of drought and send a mudslide through the rice plot, which Ama's husband had been too busy gambling to shore up.

In the novel Sold, which keepsake set aside for Lakshmi's dowry does her mother sell to settle debts?

Her earrings pay what the family owes after the rice is lost, and Ama walks home ashamed to be seen without them.

In the novel Sold, what prize does Ama's husband win by gambling, only to lose it again the next night?

A motorcycle is his one big win, and Ama plans to trade it for household essentials. He loses it along with his new coat and hat, and the next morning Lakshmi learns she must go.

In Patricia McCormick's Sold, Lakshmi garlands her goat with marigolds during which Hindu celebration?

The Festival of Lights honours crows and dogs in her village, and with no dog to garland, Lakshmi decorates the goat instead, which eats the flowers.

In the novel Sold, which finely dressed stranger from the city leads Lakshmi away from her village?

Bimla calls herself Lakshmi's new auntie and wins her over with talk of an easy city life, then hands her on to a man who takes her across the border.

In the novel Sold, which soft drink does Lakshmi slip into a shopping basket as a parting treat for Ama?

Coca-Cola goes into the basket beside a coat for the baby and a jumper for Ama, all bought with the money just paid for Lakshmi herself.

In the novel Sold, Lakshmi's sale price and what she owes the brothel are counted in which currency?

Rupees change hands at every stage: 800 are agreed for Lakshmi in her village, while the trafficker who delivers her to the brothel is paid 10,000.

In Sold, what does the brothel owner order done to Lakshmi so a runaway would be brought back?

Her hair is chopped off by another girl on the owner's orders after Lakshmi fights off a customer and tries to leave. In the story, a shorn head marks a woman as disgraced.

In Sold, which friend brings Lakshmi tea, explains brothel customs, then vanishes after a raid?

Shahanna also shows Lakshmi how to protect herself from disease, and after she is taken away in the raid Lakshmi never learns what became of her.

In the novel Sold, which friend of Lakshmi has a permanently damaged face from a beating after she fled?

Anita was hunted down by the brothel owner's hired men after escaping, and the injury means she can no longer smile. She is too frightened to leave when rescue finally comes.

In the novel Sold, which eight-year-old at the brothel teaches Lakshmi words in two new languages?

Harish shares his storybooks with Lakshmi and teaches her Hindi and English, lessons that let her pretend she is back at school.

In Sold, which gift from a young friend on the festival of brothers and sisters moves Lakshmi to tears?

A yellow pencil is such an unexpected kindness that she weeps, and she repays the giver with a present made from her own ragged shawl.

In Sold, which top earner at the brothel buys her freedom, goes home, and is turned away by her family?

Monica expects to be honoured for the money she has sent home, but her father beats her and her family tells her daughter that she is dead.

In the novel Sold, which ailing mother of two is forced out of the brothel when too weak to work?

Pushpa is told she may stay only if she promises her baby daughter to the brothel once the girl is old enough, so she packs up her children and leaves.

In Sold, which woman spies on the other girls for the brothel owner and drinks to dull her pain?

Shilpa grew up in the trade as the daughter of a sex worker, and it is she who tells Lakshmi that no wages are ever sent home to the girls' families.

In the novel Sold, what does a visitor posing as a customer leave with Lakshmi so she can seek help?

A white card carries the details of a shelter, and printed on it is a bird in flight that recalls the peak above Lakshmi's home. She hides it even though she cannot read it.

Patricia McCormick's novel Sold tells Lakshmi's story through a series of what?

Short vignettes, some only a few sentences long, carry the whole book in Lakshmi's own voice, and Kirkus Reviews described the result as a prose poem.

Sold and Never Fall Down each made Patricia McCormick a finalist for which major US literary prize?

The National Book Award shortlist for Young People's Literature included Sold in 2006, and Never Fall Down reached the same stage in 2012.

What did Patricia McCormick do in Himalayan villages and a city red-light district to research Sold?

Interviewed survivors gave her the detail behind Lakshmi's voice, and School Library Journal noted that the book was written in those women's honour.

Patricia McCormick, author of Sold, studied which subject at Columbia before turning to fiction?

Journalism drew her in after the Three Mile Island accident brought reporters from around the world to her Pennsylvania town, where she had just started work in the governor's office.

In the novel Sold, Lakshmi turns her ragged shawl into what present for the boy who teaches her to read?

A soccer ball made from the shawl is her thanks for his gift on the festival of brothers and sisters. By then the cloth no longer smells of home.

Which Oscar-winning British actress was executive producer of the 2014 film of Sold?

Emma Thompson backed the adaptation directed by Jeffrey D. Brown, whose earlier film Molly's Pilgrim had won an Oscar for live action shorts.

Patricia McCormick's Sold topped a US library association's list for 2025 that tracks what?

Censorship attempts against Sold were reported more often than against any other title that year, nearly two decades after the book first appeared.

In Patricia McCormick's Sold, Lakshmi watches a begging boy earn coins by dancing like which pop star?

Michael Jackson moves win the boy a scattering of coins, while a starving disabled boy begging beside him is ignored by the same passers-by.

Which actress plays Sophia, a photographer who spots Lakshmi at a window, in the 2014 film version of Sold?

Gillian Anderson plays a character based on the humanitarian photographer Lisa Kristine. In the film she photographs Lakshmi before a brothel worker breaks her camera.

In the novel Sold, what do the girls call the brothel owner's hired thugs who hunt down runaways?

Goondas beat one girl with a metal pipe after her escape, leaving her face permanently damaged.