Julie Oakes

When West meets East in India, tradition, modernity, and necessity cast disturbing slants on the truth.

When Georgia accepts the assignment to research prostitution in India, she enters blithely, confident of her ability to remain objective in the face of the difficult subject matter. Provided with an Indian guide, Karma, Georgia feels that she is in control of her well-being and safety. But India, being India, soon overwhelms her preconceptions as Karma’s first attempt to facilitate her assignment is to arrange for her to witness an encounter between a prostitute and a john.

Told in two voices, Georgia’s and Karma’s, Hooks grapples with the discrepancies between a Western and an Eastern take on prostitution in a country where tradition, modernity, and necessity cast disturbing slants on the truth.

A morality tale told from vastly different personal circumstances and orientations, Hooks draws in the uninitiated Georgia, as she in turn helps the grieving Karma to realize a route away from his spoiled hopes.