There are such a lot of dystopian novels around at the moment, and your librarian is a big fan of them, but like everything a change can be really refreshing. That is why I picked up this book and took it home. It is the story of a Afghani boy (Enaiatollah) whose mother disappears in the middle of the night when he is ten, she urgently whispered into his ear just before he went to sleep one night that he should never use weapons or drugs and not to steal. When he woke up she was gone. He has no idea where she is and he is all alone in the world. He then begins a five year journey which begins with him looking for her and then deciding eventually that he will go to Italy. It is a journey full of dangerous situations, dangerous people and dangerous travel. Dangers abound for this poor boy! He travels through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Greece picking up work when he can get it, hiding on board vehicles traveling along the journey and surviving by the skin of his teeth all kinds of terrible things including He survives human trafficking, dangerous predators, life on the street in various locations and all kinds of horrible situations. It takes him five years to get to the end of his journey, and then he still has obstacles to overcome to be able to live there.
This book is interesting, Enaiatollah's situation is really terrifying at times and I wondered how he was going to survive, let alone cope with these awful things that kept happening to him. It is a great book, and you can't help but admire the tenacity and perseverance of this boy. This is a novelisation of true events. Highly recommended for everyone to read!
