Mirror Books acquires Louise Allen's 'explosive' new series Slave Girls

Mirror Books has acquired Slave Girls, the "explosive" new series by Louise Allen.

Commissioning editor Chris Brereton acquired world English rights from Graham Maw Christie Literary Agency, and Slave Girls: The Cutting Girl, the first book in the series, will be published in paperback, e-book and audiobook on 24th April 2025.

The synopsis states: "Slave Girls is a new series of books following individual true stories about the abuse and trafficking of young girls at the hands of County Lines criminals. Each book highlights the impossible situations vulnerable children are subject to, revealing the context to how victims have ended up in nightmare situations."

The synopsis for the first book adds: "Charlotte comes from a family of high achievers. Her father is a politician, and her mother is a senior medical officer. When she moves from her prestigious boarding school she is groomed by a girl two years her senior, spiralling into a cycle of drugs, self-harm and sexual abuse. When she goes missing, five other girls do, too. A nationwide media campaign sets out to track them down, but can Charlotte ever escape the gang behind the abduction and abuse?"

Allen said: “These are the untold stories of the unseen victims of county lines. Girls are considered less suspicious and are increasingly targeted to carry drugs and weapons, and that’s just the start. Girls are trapped in gangs and subjected to horrific acts of sexual violence. Young women have been raped, passed around dealers as ‘gift girls’ as a reward for making profits, their unwanted babies sold and the young mothers even being shot. As someone who sees the terrible consequences of these gangs it is so important to me to help highlight these girls’ stories and show county lines violence for the epidemic it is.”

Brereton added: “Mirror Books has long championed the causes that Louise so brilliantly writes about and Slave Girls is our latest and possibly most important collaboration to date. The Slave Girls series will fight for those that society has forgotten about and we are thrilled to again be working with such an accomplished writer on a subject that deserves more public attention, scrutiny and sympathy."