When his mum and sister are caught in a bomb attack in a Damascus shopping mall, 13-year-old Sami and his family make the difficult decision to leave behind their lives in Syria. For Sami, that means saying goodbye to the things he loves most: his friends, football, video games, and his home. But things are about to get even worse as they begin their dangerous journey to seek asylum in the UK. Through encounters with people smugglers, a perilous boat journey across the Mediterranean, and finally their arrival at a detention centre in Manchester, Sami learns that the world can be harsh and unforgiving - but that hope can be found in unlikely places. This award-winning novel challenges the prejudices about refugees and emphasises our common humanity. It is an inspirational story of family, bravery and survival.

 

 

This book is the winner of numerous awards

There are 336 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2022 by Oxford University Press .