Harvesting, the award-winning debut novel by Lisa Harding, is the story of the exploitation and trafficking of girls that Sabina Coyne Higgins said “needs to be widely read”. In this month’s Irish Times Book Club podcast, recorded at the Irish Writers Centre in Parnell Square in Dublin, Harding tells us why she had to write this book.

The Dublin author, who is also an actor and playwright, talks about the process of researching the novel and giving voice to her young characters Sammy and Nico on the page. She discusses the patterns that appear in real-life cases of trafficking and abuse and how people suffering ongoing trauma often use disassociation as a survival mechanism.

Harding also talks about her work adapting Harvesting for the screen and her desire for it to reflect both the sensitivity and dark humour of this beautifully written, heartbreaking and gut-wrenching novel.