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Dalila
Irene Dalila Mwathi comes from Kenya with a brutally violent personal history. Once she wanted to be a journalist, now all she wants is to be safe. When she finally arrives, bewildered, in London, she is attacked by the very people paid to protect her, and she has no choice but to step out on her own into this strange new world. Through a dizzying array of interviews, lawyer’s meetings, regulations and detention centres, she realises that what she faces may be no less dangerous than the violence she has fled.
Written with grace, humour and compassion, this timely and thought-provoking novel tackles its uncomfortable subject matter in a deeply affecting way. A book about forging dignity in a world of tragedy, and raising issues about immigration and asylum-seekers through the story of one woman’s plight, Dalila is a necessary tale of our times. It is also a work of great literary power: a slow-burning, spell-binding novel about how we treat the vulnerable and dispossessed that will leave its readers devastated.
Written with grace, humour and compassion, this timely and thought-provoking novel tackles its uncomfortable subject matter in a deeply affecting way. A book about forging dignity in a world of tragedy, and raising issues about immigration and asylum-seekers through the story of one woman’s plight, Dalila is a necessary tale of our times. It is also a work of great literary power: a slow-burning, spell-binding novel about how we treat the vulnerable and dispossessed that will leave its readers devastated.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2017
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193 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
January 27, 2019
Dark novel about a kenyan girl who arrived in the uk and applies for asylum and her journey through the process with disturbing events. Its dark and gritty novel but feels as though its been researched well and all too real.
February 7, 2017
Jason Donald begins his riveting story of an asylum seeker by describing a queue at Heathrow. It is a clever device because it is something with which we can all empathise. We have all endured the sheer boredom of queueing. So we can all sympathise with Dalila as she waits to present her passport to the immigration officials on duty. And so, we are hooked into her story from the very outset. A lot of that has to do with the skill of the writing. Jason Donald, like the Ancient Mariner, is a natural storyteller and just like the wedding guest you will be "like one that hath been stunned, And is of sense forlorn: A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn."
Without giving to much of the plot away, when Dalila arrives in the UK, she lies to get herself into the country and then, finding herself threatened by the criminals who organised her journey from Kenya, she appeals for asylum. The story then takes us through the process of an application for asylum. Jason Donald makes all this real for us by introducing us to people on both sides of the process, and shows us their humanity. So there is a security guard who does not want to clear up a pool of vomit, the Turkish family in despair at what may happen to them when their application is rejected, the charity worker doing his best, the drunken neighbours. Jason Donald shows us people at their worst and at their best.
Dalila herself is not perfect. She resents the fact that it is the Syrian refugees who are capturing all the headlines. But slowly she learns the importance of the African concept Ubuntu. (I have to confess that I thought this was a South African concept, because all the people that I have heard speaking about it are South Africans). Ubuntu expresses the idea that I cannot be safe, content, secure if others are not safe, content and secure. It is the complete rejection of Margaret Thatcher's "no such thing as society" argument. Ubuntu argues that our lives intersect, and that we are dependent upon each other.
This is the central concept of this book. "Dalila" shows us these intersections for good or evil, and how even little things can change people's lives. "Dalila" does not offer any solutions about how we as a society should deal with asylum seekers, except one. We should act with compassion. We should ask ourselves how we would want to be treated if, God forbid, we should find ourselves in such circumstances. That, I think, is the central message of this book. It explores the conflicts between law and morality, and reminds us that executing the law without compassion is not justice. It shows us the horrific consequences of bad decision-making, and it shows us how the human spirit can rise above adversity through the transcendent power of friendship.
I would be astonished by this book, but for one thing. I have known Jason Donald since he published "Choke Chain" in 2009 and I booked him to speak in some of the libraries where I worked. I also had the pleasure of commissioning him to write a short story "If You Belonged" for Scottish Libraries. This story was about an asylum seeker resisting his physical deportation from the country. I therefore have known for nearly a decade that Jason Donald is an intelligent and passionate writer, and I cannot be surprised therefore that "Dalila" is an extraordinary book.
Without giving to much of the plot away, when Dalila arrives in the UK, she lies to get herself into the country and then, finding herself threatened by the criminals who organised her journey from Kenya, she appeals for asylum. The story then takes us through the process of an application for asylum. Jason Donald makes all this real for us by introducing us to people on both sides of the process, and shows us their humanity. So there is a security guard who does not want to clear up a pool of vomit, the Turkish family in despair at what may happen to them when their application is rejected, the charity worker doing his best, the drunken neighbours. Jason Donald shows us people at their worst and at their best.
Dalila herself is not perfect. She resents the fact that it is the Syrian refugees who are capturing all the headlines. But slowly she learns the importance of the African concept Ubuntu. (I have to confess that I thought this was a South African concept, because all the people that I have heard speaking about it are South Africans). Ubuntu expresses the idea that I cannot be safe, content, secure if others are not safe, content and secure. It is the complete rejection of Margaret Thatcher's "no such thing as society" argument. Ubuntu argues that our lives intersect, and that we are dependent upon each other.
This is the central concept of this book. "Dalila" shows us these intersections for good or evil, and how even little things can change people's lives. "Dalila" does not offer any solutions about how we as a society should deal with asylum seekers, except one. We should act with compassion. We should ask ourselves how we would want to be treated if, God forbid, we should find ourselves in such circumstances. That, I think, is the central message of this book. It explores the conflicts between law and morality, and reminds us that executing the law without compassion is not justice. It shows us the horrific consequences of bad decision-making, and it shows us how the human spirit can rise above adversity through the transcendent power of friendship.
I would be astonished by this book, but for one thing. I have known Jason Donald since he published "Choke Chain" in 2009 and I booked him to speak in some of the libraries where I worked. I also had the pleasure of commissioning him to write a short story "If You Belonged" for Scottish Libraries. This story was about an asylum seeker resisting his physical deportation from the country. I therefore have known for nearly a decade that Jason Donald is an intelligent and passionate writer, and I cannot be surprised therefore that "Dalila" is an extraordinary book.
February 24, 2017
Dalila has finally made it to the U.K. border, to the border of her freedom. On the other side, she will be free to walk the streets in safety, free to continue her journalism studies, free to stay alive. These things had become frighteningly out of reach in her homeland of Kenya, as violence that slaughtered her parents and brother now pressed upon her own skin.
But Dalila has trusted the wrong people. The handlers she paid to help her enter the country turn on her. With devastating clarity, Dalila sees she is no more protected in her dream land than she is back home.
Left with no money, no place to sleep, no possessions, Dalila is given shelter, introduced to others like her, and entered into the system for asylum seekers. As she opens up to those around her, her feisty roommate, a wise neighbor, so, too, does the system itself unfold. The legal mazes, the mistrust, the scrutiny and those doing their best to do their jobs—those enforcing the law and those standing up for the people.
Dalila must face this new limbo under the lurking shadow of the handlers that are still hunting her, the certain punishment that awaits back in Kenya and fear of a system that can snatch families up in the dead of morning and return them to their fates.
Brushed with heartrending suspense, Dalila gives us compelling characters—the hopeful and the hopeless, the strong of might and the strong of heart. It is a timely portrait of one woman, and perhaps every woman, man and child, attempting to escape life-threatening violence, under the scrutiny of the bureaucracy that holds their lives in its grasp.
But Dalila has trusted the wrong people. The handlers she paid to help her enter the country turn on her. With devastating clarity, Dalila sees she is no more protected in her dream land than she is back home.
Left with no money, no place to sleep, no possessions, Dalila is given shelter, introduced to others like her, and entered into the system for asylum seekers. As she opens up to those around her, her feisty roommate, a wise neighbor, so, too, does the system itself unfold. The legal mazes, the mistrust, the scrutiny and those doing their best to do their jobs—those enforcing the law and those standing up for the people.
Dalila must face this new limbo under the lurking shadow of the handlers that are still hunting her, the certain punishment that awaits back in Kenya and fear of a system that can snatch families up in the dead of morning and return them to their fates.
Brushed with heartrending suspense, Dalila gives us compelling characters—the hopeful and the hopeless, the strong of might and the strong of heart. It is a timely portrait of one woman, and perhaps every woman, man and child, attempting to escape life-threatening violence, under the scrutiny of the bureaucracy that holds their lives in its grasp.
March 7, 2017
Dalila is a beautiful piece of storytelling. I know it’s only March, but this will surely be one of my favourite reads of 2017. We’ve heard of writers inhabiting the characters they create but in this case the Dalila of the title became so real to me, I felt I was walking in her shoes (and wet socks). The novel is so skilfully written that I felt her dread, her fear, her worry and her loneliness. I also took comfort where Dalila took comfort, in friendship, kindness and hope.
Jason Donald has embedded his story in the asylum process in the UK, a process that crushes the individual in a way that cannot be accidental. The system is not blind, the system sees you and does not like what it sees, no matter how deserving, how honest or how vulnerable you are.
The story is charged with suspense and menace, and reads like a thriller in parts. It provides a fascinating insight into the modern-day nightmare experience by people caught between multiple threats - unstable societies, people traffickers and hostile bureaucracy. The colourful depiction of Glasgow’s deprived communities is sympathetic without being sentimental. The character of Dalila will stay with me for a long time. Highly recommended.
Jason Donald has embedded his story in the asylum process in the UK, a process that crushes the individual in a way that cannot be accidental. The system is not blind, the system sees you and does not like what it sees, no matter how deserving, how honest or how vulnerable you are.
The story is charged with suspense and menace, and reads like a thriller in parts. It provides a fascinating insight into the modern-day nightmare experience by people caught between multiple threats - unstable societies, people traffickers and hostile bureaucracy. The colourful depiction of Glasgow’s deprived communities is sympathetic without being sentimental. The character of Dalila will stay with me for a long time. Highly recommended.
Read
April 8, 2017Dalila was easy to read but hard to stomach and I felt much the same as I did after watching the film 'I Daniel Blake' - moved, astonished, angry, sad. Jason Donald describes a Kenyan asylum seeker's world of hope and despair with acute attention to detail. There is a wonderful chorus of 'same' and 'different' that threads through the book regularly reminding the reader that we are all just human at a basic level in terms of our perceptions and desires. The environments are realistically portrayed, whether it's the urban grit of Glasgow or the bleak bureaucratic rooms the characters inhabit. There is a dreamlike quality to the narrative; the unfolding tragedies seem inevitable despite the spirit of each sensitively portrayed asylum seeker who is ultimately powerless against a juggernaut - like asylum process. Bravo to the author for getting under the skin of a black female protagonist with compassion, dignity and objectivity. Read this book to shake yourself out of complacency, to understand the nature of daily fear and to recognise the importance of human connection. This is truly a book for our times, a call to action written with gentle grace rather than rhetoric and Dalila's story writ large is not going away anytime soon.
September 24, 2017
Heart-wrenching, thought-provoking and well-written.
A must-read.
A must-read.
March 19, 2025
At this moment in time I think this novel was a little too dark for me but I did really connect with it. I really need to screen these books before reading them because that was a lot 😭
June 4, 2022
Enlightening and heartbreaking.
Read
January 4, 2017I started reading this in public but within four pages, decided it would be likely to provoke unrestrained bursts of emotion, so took it home. A wise decision.
Dalila arrives in London from Kenya, escaping violence and danger. She knows what she has to say, she’s ready to act the part she’s been given, she will do anything to escape the brutality and indignity she suffered at home. She’s alone and everything is different. Almost everything.
The people she has paid to help her are out for what they can get, so Dalila is left homeless, friendless and adrift. From being a college student with a future to a fearful bundle in a doorway. Charity volunteers help her survive and apply for asylum and so begins a day-to-day existence and an epic battle with bureaucracy.
The system relocates her to Glasgow while she is processed. Her isolation both increases and lessens as she meets other refugees and asylum-seekers, local people and charitable volunteers. She makes tentative friendships, builds bonds but all on a fragile web of hope.
If they grant her Leave to Remain.
If.
Meanwhile, the people who arranged her trip are still seeking their cash cow. She is collateral and they want her back.
Dalila’s story both heals your heart and breaks it. People are kind, cruel, thoughtful, caring, careless and ignorant. The small gestures and daily routines give us flashes of optimism. One woman’s journey makes us believe in, or at least hope for, the human race.
A novel to help us understand the global by engaging with the personal, this book leaves you profoundly shaken. It also offers a real insight into a situation reported with more hysteria than humanity.
Everyone should read this. We are all responsible for Dalila.
Dalila arrives in London from Kenya, escaping violence and danger. She knows what she has to say, she’s ready to act the part she’s been given, she will do anything to escape the brutality and indignity she suffered at home. She’s alone and everything is different. Almost everything.
The people she has paid to help her are out for what they can get, so Dalila is left homeless, friendless and adrift. From being a college student with a future to a fearful bundle in a doorway. Charity volunteers help her survive and apply for asylum and so begins a day-to-day existence and an epic battle with bureaucracy.
The system relocates her to Glasgow while she is processed. Her isolation both increases and lessens as she meets other refugees and asylum-seekers, local people and charitable volunteers. She makes tentative friendships, builds bonds but all on a fragile web of hope.
If they grant her Leave to Remain.
If.
Meanwhile, the people who arranged her trip are still seeking their cash cow. She is collateral and they want her back.
Dalila’s story both heals your heart and breaks it. People are kind, cruel, thoughtful, caring, careless and ignorant. The small gestures and daily routines give us flashes of optimism. One woman’s journey makes us believe in, or at least hope for, the human race.
A novel to help us understand the global by engaging with the personal, this book leaves you profoundly shaken. It also offers a real insight into a situation reported with more hysteria than humanity.
Everyone should read this. We are all responsible for Dalila.
January 23, 2021
Książka ta opowiada o kenijskiej dziewczynie, która ma za sobą bardzo trudne i przykre doświadczenia. Postanawia wyruszyć do Londynu, aby zacząć nowe życie. Okazuje się, że nie może uciec od tego, co pozostawiła. Spotykają ją różne niełatwe sytuacje, które czasami mogłyby wydawać się bez wyjścia. Ona jednak, mimo swoich słabości, nie cofa się. Jest wystraszona, jednak stara się zrozumieć samą siebie, ponieważ wie, że nie ma nikogo innego. Książka ta pokazuje, jak brutalne jest społeczeństwo, szczególnie dla osób, które ubiegają się o azyl. Nie jest to książka, która przytłacza bezwzględnością ludzi, ale ukazująca to, że mimo tego jak okropnych działań się dopuszczali, bohaterka nie uważała ich jako przeszkody. Wiedziała, że musi się z nimi zmierzyć, więc traktowała je jako wyzwania. Powieść ta napisana jest lekkim i zrozumiałym językiem. Czytałam ją z przyjemnością. Mimo tego, że ukazuje ona brutalne realia, zostały one przedstawiony w prosty sposób. Posiada ona zaskakujące zwroty akcji, co jest według mnie atutem. Daję jej 5 gwiazdek, gdyż historia ta naprawdę mnie poruszyła.
February 20, 2017
This novel is haunting, funny, heartbreaking, powerful and riveting. It speaks volumes about the current climate surrounding refugees and asylum seekers. An absolute treat and a must read!
June 5, 2017
Dalila is an asylum seeker from Kenya. This extraordinary novel follows her through her flight from danger to the UK and into the system that is in place to deal with asylum seekers. At first I thought this felt like a 'how the system works' sort of book, but when other AS stories emerge I realised this is more than that. The novel does explain the system in detail but also reveals the reality of asylum seekers' lives; the constant fear they live under, their vulnerability and the treatment they receive from UK citizens and UK government officials. I wish all complainers of asylum seekers would read this book but I know they wont.
June 12, 2018
Stunning.
April 18, 2023
Gripping, heart breaking & thought provoking read, while being informative of the system for asylum seekers entering the UK and the total injustice of this system. Highly recommend
March 13, 2024
The book was released 7 years ago, but what a few years it's been.
This likely fits into the 'might not be published today' category: a white guy writing the perspective of a black woman. It isn't exploitative like American Dirt or A Little Life, but it still provokes a bit of discomfort, when considered against books like Homes: A Refugee Story or Americanah.
That aside, I'm glad we have it. Published not long after the Brexit referendum, it is a full-throated takedown of the UK's response to the migrant crisis. The story is of Irene (or Dalila, depending who you are), a Kenyan woman escaping to England in fear for her life. The ridiculousness of the claim system, the fully livestock-like way that asylum seekers are handled, and the helplessness of the people within the system itself are addressed in very blunt language.
Donald put a ton of research into this, and the book shines when it portrays the inhumanity that is designed into the system -- the interview process, the 'safety measures' that are deliberately humiliating to the claimants, and the conditions within the facilities that they are forced to live in.
It's less-than-great when it slips into lecturing. There are a few sections where we hear the stories of secondary or tertiary characters - these read as though they're being dictated by real people, but are stylistically out of place in the book. The stories themselves are useful as different perspectives and experiences in the system, but could have been either integrated better with the story, or made to stand aside as testaments from the surely real people who lived them.
At any rate -- the book is emotionally impactful and kinetic. If it's read as a critique of the system it stands up very well, but more than once while reading the dialogue between African characters, or Dalila's internal monologue, I was cringing a little.
This likely fits into the 'might not be published today' category: a white guy writing the perspective of a black woman. It isn't exploitative like American Dirt or A Little Life, but it still provokes a bit of discomfort, when considered against books like Homes: A Refugee Story or Americanah.
That aside, I'm glad we have it. Published not long after the Brexit referendum, it is a full-throated takedown of the UK's response to the migrant crisis. The story is of Irene (or Dalila, depending who you are), a Kenyan woman escaping to England in fear for her life. The ridiculousness of the claim system, the fully livestock-like way that asylum seekers are handled, and the helplessness of the people within the system itself are addressed in very blunt language.
Donald put a ton of research into this, and the book shines when it portrays the inhumanity that is designed into the system -- the interview process, the 'safety measures' that are deliberately humiliating to the claimants, and the conditions within the facilities that they are forced to live in.
It's less-than-great when it slips into lecturing. There are a few sections where we hear the stories of secondary or tertiary characters - these read as though they're being dictated by real people, but are stylistically out of place in the book. The stories themselves are useful as different perspectives and experiences in the system, but could have been either integrated better with the story, or made to stand aside as testaments from the surely real people who lived them.
At any rate -- the book is emotionally impactful and kinetic. If it's read as a critique of the system it stands up very well, but more than once while reading the dialogue between African characters, or Dalila's internal monologue, I was cringing a little.
March 10, 2019
Wow. This book really affected me. I found myself actually holding my breath at many points throughout. I am so glad that the author decided to highlight this issue in such politically charged times and to do it in such a simple but beautiful way.
I love how he captured the speech patterns of the different immigrant groups and I could tell that the characters in this book were influenced by real people before I confirmed this in the Acknowledgements because they just came alive from the page.
It should really be a 5 star book but I am pettily removing a star because it contains one of my stylistic pet hates of no speech marks. Please stop doing this authors!
Basically the UK should be hugely ashamed of the 'hostile environment' and everyone in the government should read this book!
I love how he captured the speech patterns of the different immigrant groups and I could tell that the characters in this book were influenced by real people before I confirmed this in the Acknowledgements because they just came alive from the page.
It should really be a 5 star book but I am pettily removing a star because it contains one of my stylistic pet hates of no speech marks. Please stop doing this authors!
Basically the UK should be hugely ashamed of the 'hostile environment' and everyone in the government should read this book!
June 23, 2018
This follows the progress of a young Kenyan woman who escapes to the UK to claim asylum from her abusive uncle after her family is killed.
It really made you understand what refugees and asylum seekers go through when they flee their home country.
Very well written, with a strong female character you felt connected with.
It really made you understand what refugees and asylum seekers go through when they flee their home country.
Very well written, with a strong female character you felt connected with.
December 16, 2017
An interesting if not entirely absorbnig read. I enjoyed the narrative flow, the main character, and the story was well researched and believable - but it never really gripped me. Worthwhile rather than must read.
September 2, 2017
Przygotujcie paczkę chusteczek - płacz murowany.
August 20, 2018
almost more depressing that The Kite Runner. riveting because you don't know what's going to happen to her next, and you actually experience uncertainty right alongside Dalila.
November 10, 2018
Brilliant book with insight into asylum seekers. Could it have had another ending? I think not.....
December 5, 2018
Absolutely Gut wrenching
July 18, 2019
An interesting and sad view into how the Home Office (UK) treats asylum seekers.
March 10, 2021
This book was incredibly raw and very eye opening. I found myself nervous to continue but unable to put it down. Spent many days after finishing the book thinking about it, it was that good!
November 10, 2023
This is a must-read (especially right now). So beautifully written.
December 31, 2021
Gut wrenching, with some simple good times and good life advice. A long and truthful journey of asylum seekers in this day and age. Written beautifully with great detail and difficult emotions explained so accurately. I felt it all the days where it was hard to even get up and the days where Dalila was too afraid to step outside. The days she did even if she was petrified. I never expected to hear such tragic stories when i began this book, everyone has gone through something even the happy ones. Many times i wanted to hug Dalila comfort her and tell her everything is okay. I loved this book so much i learned many new words. Enjoyed and became attached to many characters, like Ma,aza and Abbi. Saw and grew awareness of the cold dark truth for desperate asylum seekers like Dalila. Incredible a very good read, i cried many times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2021
This is such a good book, really memorable and well written. So sad, just a different perspective I'd never given much thought to before I read the book. One of my favourite books.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews