A suspenseful debut novel about the forces of greed and love that shape a refugee’s fate
After a family secret reveals that his freedom might be in danger, the life of Shif, a 14-year-old African boy who excels at school, takes an unexpected turn.
Shif needs to leave his home country (not named but probably Eritrea) to escape military service by being smuggled to Europe. But plans to escape are cut short, and he is rounded up with his best friend, Bini, to a prison where dissidents are often kept for life without trial. As the older inmates help the young boys plot an escape, Shif and Bini learn that their stories are not unique in a country where no one is allowed to criticize the government and there is always something someone could be punished for. Escaping the prison that’s in the middle of the desert comes at a huge price. When Shif arrives at a town where he does not know the language, he is thirsty, hungry, dirty, and almost dead. A door opens when he meets the family of Almaz, a young girl from his country, and finds out that they are on the run too, but new forms of danger loom en route to Europe via the desert and then the sea. Shif’s present-tense narration pins readers to his side throughout his ordeal. The publisher's suggested age range is 8 to 12, but the narrative feel, all-too-realistic violence, and relentless grimness of Shif’s circumstances suggest an older audience.
A suspenseful debut novel about the forces of greed and love that shape a refugee’s fate . (Fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: June 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-42303-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
The sudden death of her twin leaves a teenager struggling with grief and her fragile sense of self in this absorbing, inwardly focused import from Sweden, part fiction, part memoir. So close are the sisters that after Cilla is killed by a motorist Tina can still hear her voice, still see her just by looking in a mirror, still hold conversations; she even finds herself taking on some of Cilla’s character traits, seeking an inner balance that she has lost. Able to describe her experiences only by switching back and forth between third person and first, Tina observes the different ways those around her grieve, and finds temporary solace in many places: reading and writing poetry, performing on stage, playing her violin, trying a brief but intense fling at summer camp, even talking to a perceptive psychologist—but unlike many such stories, there is never any sense here that the authors are running through a catalog of coping strategies, or offering trite platitudes. A year later, Tina discovers that, in forming new friendships and moving on in life, she has passed the worst of her pain, and found ways to distance herself from Cilla without losing her completely. In a smooth, natural-sounding translation, this is a thoughtful, complex reminiscence. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: March 23, 1999
ISBN: 91-29-63935-2
Page Count: 247
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
Carrick (Melanie, 1996, etc.) sensitively explores the pain of a parent’s death through the eyes, feelings, and voice of a nine-year-old boy whose world turns upside down when his father becomes terminally ill with cancer. Through a fictional reminiscence, the story explores many of the issues common to children whose parents are ill—loss of control, changes in physical appearance and mental ability, upsets in daily routine, experiences of guilt and anger, the reaction of friends, and, most of all, a fear of the unknown. Although the book suffers from a pat ending and the black-and-white sketches emphasize the bleakness of the topic, this title is a notch above pure bibliotherapy and will fill a special niche for children struggling to deal with the trauma of parental sickness and death. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 20, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-84151-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
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