A deeply moving tale of suffering and courage of people forced into bonded labour. Masih, a farmer, is indentured to landowner Mohammed Hakim. Forced by exploitation and utter poverty, Masih contracts his seven-year-old son Patrus to serve a six-year apprenticeship in a carpet factory. A different form of bondage, though just as vicious, plagues Mohammed’s family. Chamak, his niece, is abducted and forced into sexual slavery. She succeeds in escaping but is forever imprisoned by the absurd codes of shame and purity that society imposes on her. A sensitive portrayal of human suffering and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit, Bonded is a compelling read.