A Mother, An Artist and the Red Lights in Amsterdam

Imagine discovering one day that your beloved mother or your precious daughter had worked—or is still working—behind a red-lit window in Amsterdam's Red Light District, where sex work is entirely legal. This book explores the struggle to come to terms with the unimaginable. The life of Lihi van Dijk, a young arts student living in Amsterdam, has never been sweeter. She has everything: unique artistic talent, stunning beauty, a loving partner, his five-year-old daughter whom she has adopted as her own, a warm and supportive family, and a circle of devoted friends who all call her 'The Princess'. But all of that is about to change, unravel, and fall apart when everyone discovers that the previous summer, unbeknownst to anyone, Lihi worked in the Red Light District. Her loved ones all turn their backs on her, abandoning her and burning every bridge—everyone except her little girl. As loneliness and despair close in, Lihi returns to the Red Light District in Amsterdam, the one place where no one will judge her. There, in a world painted in shades of red, black, and grey, caught between painting and selling her body to strange men, Lihi finds her way back to her loved ones, her family, and to herself. This is a story about motherhood and art, about pain and distress, about love and friendship, and the hope that tomorrow morning the sun will shine on a green and blossoming world, illuminating a new path toward goodness and well-being. It's said that it's always darkest just before dawn. This is Lihi's story: in the darkness and in the sunrise.