An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Roadmap To Hell

I thought the picture painted by Roberto Saviano's Gomorrah of corruption, crime and unspeakable awfulness in the Naples area was shocking (see this blog – An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Gomorrah, 13 January 2021). But much of the content of Roadmap To Hell by Barbie Latza Nadeau surpasses it as an account of the depths to which things have sunk there.

If you have a strong stomach, this is a forensic study of people-trafficking, sex slavery and brutal violence.

Latza Nadeau, like Saviano, writes about the Land of Fires, the area to the east of Naples ravaged by illegal toxic waste disposal and subsequent illnesses among the population.

But much of her book centres on Castel Volturno, the seaside town to the west, which is the "hell" of the title.

The degradation and misery which African women have been led to here is beyond wicked.

As with the stories in Gomorrah, it seems that all this is an open secret but few in authority want – or dare – do anything about it. The heroism of the women who buck the corrupt system – and particularly the nuns of the Casa Ruth refuge for former sex slaves at Caserta – is all the more awe-inspiring for being carried out in the face of such monumental evil.