Parisian Phoenix Publishing

By Geraldine Donaher, author of the upcoming Young Adult novel Mouth Shut Head Down

I read Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These recently. Her writing has a bare-minimum quality that is refreshing to read. Too many words and sometimes a story gets lost.

Keegan reveals the horrors of trafficking by the Catholic Church through the tender eyes of the empathetic protagonist, Bill Furlong. He sees what everyone in his community refuses to acknowledge systemic social injustice.

He feels the desperation of those who have no autonomy or agency. . . the enslaved.

He wrestles with a decision to bring about change that goes against the norm. . . . internal conflict.

Dark? Yes. But that’s often where reality exists.

In this story, it’s Sarah in a coal shed.

Bill is tormented, depressed, and lost in his own perception of what is morally right and wrong. The support and love he was shown as a child is in complete contrast to what is shown to the girls—from the sisters, the people in his local community, and his wife in his own home. 

It’s only by reflecting on his own life and staying true to his values that Bill can break free from inner turmoil. He sees that the religious institution preaching love and care is a hypocrisy, the local community’s fattening of the institution’s coffers is turning a blind eye, and his own wife’s comment that at least those girls “get a roof over their head” justifies the abuse.  

Through refection, he is able to take action and set Sarah free.

And in that process, free himself from the internal conflict. 

I couldn’t help but feel a connection between sex trafficked minors in our communities today and the trafficked girls in the Magdalene Laundry Scandal.

Both groups are accused of being responsible for their own entrapment, blamed for the injustices done to them, and ignored as less-than-worthy-of-freedom than our own birth children. 

I wrote Mouth Shut Head Down to educate people on the realities of sex trafficked minors in the United States. We can only create change by first acknowledging the injustices done to the marginalized.

The stories of R. Kelly and Epstein reflect only two abusive monsters preying on our youth.

This past May, within only 5 days, 205 alleged child sex abuse offenders were arrested across the United States. You can read the full story here. 

It’s time to open the door and shed light on this modern day slavery so victims can walk away free. They need somewhere to go. They need options. 

I want to thank Angel Ackerman at Parisian Phoenix Publishing for publishing Mouth Shut Head Down. Many don’t know the truth about sex trafficked minors. Once they see, though, really see, they can’t unsee the tragedy. Then, like Bill Furlong, they can do something about it. 

We are not a free society until everyone in our society is free.