Bait by William VanceMelody Frane had it all, and she had nothing. She was strikingly beautiful, seventeen, and dirt poor; wandering from town to town working the fields under the tutelage of her drunken, promiscuous mother. Not a promising future.

She catches the eye of every man that ogles her. Two of them change the course of her life. Millionaire Harry Ransome seduces her with the promise of the good life—education, steady meals, clothes, travel, and money. But it’s a deal with the devil. Ransome wants Melody not only for his own amusement, but as bait to get what he wants from the men who can deliver it. And Melody is gullible and confused enough to allow him to use her.

The second beau, Kenney Ward, flies a private plane for Ransome. He wants Melody too, but in light of the life she’s living, can he stick by her? Can he provide a way out of her degradation?

Bait is a heartrending tale of a young woman coming of age in poverty, exploited by the only asset she controls—herself. William Vance writing as George Cassidy, lingers long enough on the sex in Bait to classify it as a sleaze novel; but the majority of its pages rise above that label to offer a stark portrait of an impoverished life with few prospects.

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