About Nancy

Human trafficking is one of the most horrific crimes committed against fellow human beings. Unlike a burglary, from which you can eventually recover, day after day, month after month, they are victimized over and over again.

Nancy Hartwell became fascinated – and horrified – by this crime when a German acquaintance disappeared and it later became known that she had been sold into a sultan’s harem. She began collecting stories, which showed definite patterns. Harem Slave is the first book in the Human Trafficking series, which takes a frank and disturbing look at how victims of this crime spend their lives.

Nancy grew up in Tampa, studied international relations in Washington, and married a distinguished attorney from Cameroon, where she lived for fourteen years.  She has traveled to 44 countries and can get thoroughly into trouble in more than twenty languages. She published her first poem in a national magazine at age eight, has had radio plays produced on the BBC and ORTF (in French), and has published a number of articles on international trade. For seven years, she was a technical writer for a division of The Washington Post that tracked Congress, and for fourteen, was editor/lead proposal writer for a company specialized in international development.

She loves traveling, learning languages, Egyptology, and cooking.