Political troubles and civil unrest force a woman and young boy to flee their war-torn country in search of a safe haven in this award-winning novel that speaks to issues that are both timely and universal. Blaise Fortune, also known as Koumal, loves hearing the story of how he came to live with Gloria in the Republic of Georgia: Gloria ran to the site of a train accident where she found an injured woman who asked Gloria to take her baby. The woman, Gloria says, was French, and the baby was Blaise. When Blaise turns seven years old, the Soviet Union collapses, and its then that Gloria decides she and Blaise must flee. They make their way westward on foot, heading toward France, where Gloria says they will find safe haven. During their five-year journey across the Caucasus and Europe as they encounter other refugees searching for a better life, Blaise grows from a boy into an adolescent. However, its only as a young man can Blaise attempt to untangle his identity. Bondouxs heartbreaking tale of exile, sacrifice, hope, and survival is a story of ultimate love. [This book description comes from a different edition of this title. Please report any inaccuracies].

 

 

This book is the winner of numerous awards

This book is aimed at children at US 7th grade+.

This book has been graded for interest at 12 years.

There are 192 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 2012 by Random House USA Inc .

Anne-Laure Bondoux is a well-known French writer. She has written several novels for young adults in several genres and received many literary awards and prizes in her native France. Abderraouf Habbachi is a first time French/Arabic literary translator with a rare eye for rendering complex prose.