Fifteen Lanes

Gr 9 Up—Two drastically different stories of teenage heartache take place in the overcrowded, bustling city of Mumbai. Noor, the 14-year-old daughter of a prostitute, dutifully attends school and earns top marks, but she sees no escape from the deadly trap of the 15 lanes that house Mumbai's sex trade. Grace, 15, lives grandly on the other side of the city, but that does not mean she is any less desperate. Lonely after losing her only friend, Grace is "catfished" by students at her school. Thrown together by chance, Grace and Noor find that, despite their differences, they can help each other escape the cycles of pain into which they have fallen. Readers will love the complexity and authenticity of this story, even if they know very little about the lives of sex workers in India. The protagonists' voices make the story believable and unputdownable. Laidlaw's secondary characters—the teens' friends, relatives, and enemies—are just as fleshed out as Noor and Grace themselves. There is no easy happy ending for the girls, but their story shows the strength and beauty of the human spirit in a way that young adults will appreciate. With graphic portrayals of sex work and self-harm, this book may not be for every student, but it will be appreciated by fans of Meg Medina's Yaqui Delgado Wants To Kick Your Ass and Ellen Hopkins's work.