A Harvest of Thorns

A beloved American corporation with an explosive secret. A disgraced former journalist looking for redemption. And a corporate executive with nothing left to lose. In Dhaka, Bangladesh, a garment factory burns to the ground, claiming the lives of hundreds of workers, mostly young women. Amid the rubble, a bystander captures a heart-stopping photograph—a teenage girl lying in the dirt, her body broken by a multi-story fall, and over her mouth a mask of fabric bearing the label of one of America’s largest retailers, Presto Omnishops Corporation. Eight thousand miles away at Presto’s headquarters in Virginia, Cameron Alexander, the company’s long-time general counsel, watches the media coverage in horror, wondering if the damage can be contained. When the photo goes viral, fanning the flames of a decades-old controversy about sweatshops, labor rights, and the ethics of globalization, he launches an investigation into the disaster that will reach further than he could ever imagine—and threaten everything he has left in the world. A year later in Washington DC, Joshua Griswold, a disgraced former journalist from the Washington Post, receives an anonymous summons from a corporate whistleblower who offers him confidential information about Presto and the fi re. For Griswold, the challenge of exposing Presto’s culpability is irresistible, as is the chance, however slight, at redemption. Deploying his old journalistic skills, he builds a historic case against Presto, setting the stage for a war in the courtroom and in the media that Griswold is determined to win—both to salvage his reputation and to provoke a revolution in Presto’s boardroom that could transform the fashion industry across the globe. Praise for Harvest of Thorns: “This exposé of the underbelly of the international fashion industry is disturbing, moving, and thoroughly engrossing.” —Phillip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author of Violent Crimes “A must-read book which uncovers what lies behind what we wear every single day. I promise that you will never be able to look at your clothes the same way again.” – Livia Firth, OXFAM Global Ambassador, UN Leader of Change, and Founder of Eco Age LTD “This is a poignant and engrossing description of the manner in which men and women from the poorest countries on the globe are pressed into working for slave wages to manufacture soft goods to be sold in the most affluent counties in North America and Europe. Corban Addison will hold you spellbound with his elegant prose from his first word to his last.” – Wilbur Smith, worldwide bestselling author Stand-alone novel Includes discussion questions for book clubs and author’s note Also by Corban Addison: The Tears of Dark Water