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Hinterland
The unforgettable story of two Afghan brothers and a perilous trek across continents in search of a place to build a life, based on the real-life experiences of the “lost boys.”Two boys are crossing Europe. Only fourteen and eight years old, they have nothing but the clothes on their backs and a dwindling inheritance stitched into the lining of a belt. Their goal is a future they can no longer wait for in Afghanistan, one they hope to find in faraway England.As they travel, the older, Aryan, teaches his brother Kabir the capitals of the countries they’ll pass through—a way of mapping the course in case anything should happen to separate them. Together they recite a list of cities they can’t yet imagine, so as not to forget the Kabul-Tehran-Istanbul-Athens- Rome-Paris-London. Though their journey is filled with moments of boyish wonder and adventure, the two also confront hunger and exhaustion, cold and heat, violence and confusion, and are exploited for their labor and forced to rely on strangers who shouldn’t be trusted.Caroline Brothers first met these “lost boys” of Afghanistan as a journalist in France, in makeshift refugee camps. Her report on them made the front page of the New York Times, but she wanted to go deeper, to tell their story in human terms. Hinterland, her debut novel, raises questions about the global community’s responsibilities toward these children, dispensing with journalistic remove to emerge as a work of incredible empathy, beautifully written.Hinterland is a gripping journey of love and courage, the story of two resolute spirits not soon forgotten.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
31 people are currently reading
591 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Brothers
6 books53 followersCaroline Brothers was born in Australia. She has a PhD in history from University College London and has worked as a foreign correspondent in Europe and Latin America. She currently lives in Paris where she writes for the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times. She is the author of War and Photography and also writes short stories. Hinterland is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
April 2, 2012
This book kept me riveted from the first page! I had a hard time putting it down. I couldn't stop thinking about the brothers, Aryan and Kabir, and what these orphans endured as they made their way across the world to their promised land in England. Some of the scenes are horrific, certainly, but mostly it was the tenuousness of their survival and the boy's courage and optimism that makes this an unforgettable book. But in spite of the boys' love for each other and their resilience, it is the perpetual the failure of the international community to help these children and the thousands like them, that was most stunning. Of course, there were people along the way who were kind in small ways; but there is also a smorgasbord of predators of various ilk who prey upon these children at every turn.
This book belongs in a group with Little Bee and the Blue Notebook in how it points out the plight of children in so many parts of the world, but it also stands with these as a really great read, and I, for one, will never be the same after spending the weekend with Hinterland.
This book belongs in a group with Little Bee and the Blue Notebook in how it points out the plight of children in so many parts of the world, but it also stands with these as a really great read, and I, for one, will never be the same after spending the weekend with Hinterland.
June 2, 2019
Triest en indrukwekkend.
Een boek wat iedereen zou moeten lezen.
Een boek wat iedereen zou moeten lezen.
March 7, 2023
Speedread through this one for class, don’t ask me for details
January 1, 2013
Hinterland envisions a child’s perspective of an odyssey across multiple borders, as two Afghan orphans flee the Taliban for dreamt-of sanctuary and education in England. The boys’ trek is by turns gruelling, heartening, and devastating. As they walk and work, founder and finesse their way across Europe, it’s impossible not to cheer for them.
The novel unfolds in beautiful, economic prose, with evocative flashbacks to the Asian leg of the journey. Some passages – working on a farm during a grim Greek winter, huddling amid the dunes in a cold and rainy Calais – recall the sparse yet subtly emotive style of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Small moments of poetry and humour occur in unexpected places, and the relationship between the brothers, 14 and 8, is truthful and touching. A Paris-based reporter, Caroline Brothers melds journalistic familiarity with child migrants and skilful imagining of the sensations they experience to gripping effect.
Underpinning the novel is an argument, profound but not preachy, that migration is a natural human response to harsh environments. It’s not a plea for open borders, but it’s certainly a reminder that our formal channels of work permits and asylum petitions are inadequate to current need.
The novel unfolds in beautiful, economic prose, with evocative flashbacks to the Asian leg of the journey. Some passages – working on a farm during a grim Greek winter, huddling amid the dunes in a cold and rainy Calais – recall the sparse yet subtly emotive style of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Small moments of poetry and humour occur in unexpected places, and the relationship between the brothers, 14 and 8, is truthful and touching. A Paris-based reporter, Caroline Brothers melds journalistic familiarity with child migrants and skilful imagining of the sensations they experience to gripping effect.
Underpinning the novel is an argument, profound but not preachy, that migration is a natural human response to harsh environments. It’s not a plea for open borders, but it’s certainly a reminder that our formal channels of work permits and asylum petitions are inadequate to current need.
September 20, 2012
This is one of the most moving, and extraordinary books, I've ever read. It tells the story of two brothers. Aryan is 14, and in charge of 8 yer old Kabir, war orphans from Afghanistan. They know this vital mantra 'Kabul-Tehran-Instanbul-Athens-Rome-Paris-London'. If they can complete this perilous journey they think they will be safe, and able to go to school, their one ambition in life. But the journey is a nightmare of exploitation, abuse, cold, hunger and exhaustion, but they know they cannot go back.
It's short, and heart-wrenching and really bring a reality to the words 'refugee' and 'asylum-seeker'.
It's short, and heart-wrenching and really bring a reality to the words 'refugee' and 'asylum-seeker'.
July 13, 2012
Very moving with a somewhat disturbing ending. The author, a foreign correspondent for Rueters as well an expert on human migration issues is well versed in the realites that many people over the world are facing as they flee from repressive regimes. This story of the two young Afghani brothers is indeed heart-wrenching
June 16, 2017
Het vijandige Europa gezien door de ogen van twee vluchtelingenbroers uit Afghanistan. Een zoveelste variatie op 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' (1852) met een groot maatschappelijk probleem (vluchtelingenproblematiek) waartegen knuffelbare verschoppelingen goede of kwaadwillende mensen ontmoeten. Brothers weet een fijne troosteloze sfeer te schetsen met plotselinge geluksmomentjes, maar verder is het een voorspelbare zendelingenroman.
December 26, 2017
A sad tale that is all too typical of today's world. I thought Hand Me Down World is a better book written by a Westerner that captures the despair, desperation, isolation and seemingly impossible task of refugees seeking somewhere welcoming in Europe.
August 2, 2016
This book surprised me as it is not the sort of story I usually read. I enjoyed it and thought it was well-written. The author has written some articles on Afghan youths fleeing to Europe which I am interested to read - this is the basis of Hinterland.
August 31, 2017
It's been a while since I found it impossible to put a book down; and HInterland was that book.
The novel follows two young brothers as they set off on foot from their war torn home of Afghanistan in hopes of England; "the land where the police do not carry guns".
This book has been described as a gripping journey of love and courage, the story of two resolute spirits not soon forgotten, and I could not agree more.
Difficult to believe this is the author's first book; she captures the essence of war, love, fear and hope all without the ceremony of sentimentality.
The novel follows two young brothers as they set off on foot from their war torn home of Afghanistan in hopes of England; "the land where the police do not carry guns".
This book has been described as a gripping journey of love and courage, the story of two resolute spirits not soon forgotten, and I could not agree more.
Difficult to believe this is the author's first book; she captures the essence of war, love, fear and hope all without the ceremony of sentimentality.
November 12, 2017
Eine fesselnde, rührende Geschichte... Diese zwei Brüder muss man einfach ins Herz schließen, wie sie zusammenhalten und zusammen gehören, während sie kaum vorstellbare Dinge durchmachen. Es ist kein politisches Buch, sondern es geht um die Brüder, um ihre Flucht, um Familie und Hoffnung. Ich hab das Buch sehr gerne gelesen und würde es allen empfehlen, die den Hauch einer Ahnung davon bekommen wollen, was Flucht bedeutet.
July 24, 2022
“I like hearing the waves of the ocean..it’s like the sea is breathing” heartbreaking account of two young boys trying to find home, the cruelty of migration policies and the exploitation of labour from refugees.
February 27, 2021
I read this book in a day and it put me in mind of Lion or American Dirt - that's the genre here. It's a harrowing story of two brothers, who are trying to get from Afghanistan to England. On their own. At 8 and 14. With people smugglers, police and seemingly the whole world against them. Their biggest dream - education. It's hard to remember sometimes that it's a novel and not fact, when you see the current news of the world.
February 13, 2013
I only wish that this novel were truly fiction. Melanie
This excert By Maria Caspani:
As journalist Caroline Brothers listened to some boys in a shelter telling their stories she was taken aback by some of the experiences they recounted at such a young age.
Brothers, a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, was interviewing Afghan children at refugee shelters and day centres in Paris for her latest book, “Hinterland”.
She wanted to give voice to the experiences of some of the thousands of minors who leave Afghanistan every year to escape war, violence, child labour and early recruitment by the Taliban.
“I’d never expected to meet a 12-year-old boy at a bus stop showing me his ticket to Scandinavia,” Brothers told AlertNet over the phone. “He didn’t have any address, didn’t have anywhere to go at the other end . . . he’d been told to get a ticket, get this bus and go there.”
Children as young as eight years old walk some 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles), or are smuggled in trucks or boats – alone or with other young people - through Iran and Turkey to Europe in a hazardous journey that can last up to two years.
About 20,000 migrant children from Afghanistan are scattered throughout Europe, Brothers said. They move from country to country in search of a safe enough place to put down roots.
In Paris – which took in over 300 unaccompanied Afghan kids in 2011, according to an article by Brothers published in Britain’s Observer newspaper - they sleep on benches in public parks or on the streets because the only night shelter in the city is often full.
Brothers first witnessed child migrants for herself when she saw a group squeezing through a rail fence of a train station in Paris.
“I knew already that this migration route went through Paris and people would go from there to Calais to try to get to England or north to Scandinavia,” she said, describing how the Port of Calais can play a vital part for those seeking asylum.
“I was so amazed that such small kids could be tangled up in this maelstrom.”
She approached some of the children at a soup kitchen in the French capital and was later given access to a night shelter – run by the Salvation Army - with help from non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“The kids…are not like other children, they have seen so much serious stuff in their short lives.”
“There is so much shouting around (migration issues) and you almost couldn’t hear the voices of the people concerned here… I wanted to win back a little bit of space to get their version across,” Brothers said during an interview about her book.
Many of these children have no memories of Afghanistan because they were born in refugee camps in Pakistan or Iran, which together host some 3-million Afghan refugees, she said.
They often have no idea of either the journey or the destination when they are sent on the road by parents or relatives trying to spare them a bleak future in their home country.
It might be years before they reach Europe.
This excert By Maria Caspani:
As journalist Caroline Brothers listened to some boys in a shelter telling their stories she was taken aback by some of the experiences they recounted at such a young age.
Brothers, a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, was interviewing Afghan children at refugee shelters and day centres in Paris for her latest book, “Hinterland”.
She wanted to give voice to the experiences of some of the thousands of minors who leave Afghanistan every year to escape war, violence, child labour and early recruitment by the Taliban.
“I’d never expected to meet a 12-year-old boy at a bus stop showing me his ticket to Scandinavia,” Brothers told AlertNet over the phone. “He didn’t have any address, didn’t have anywhere to go at the other end . . . he’d been told to get a ticket, get this bus and go there.”
Children as young as eight years old walk some 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles), or are smuggled in trucks or boats – alone or with other young people - through Iran and Turkey to Europe in a hazardous journey that can last up to two years.
About 20,000 migrant children from Afghanistan are scattered throughout Europe, Brothers said. They move from country to country in search of a safe enough place to put down roots.
In Paris – which took in over 300 unaccompanied Afghan kids in 2011, according to an article by Brothers published in Britain’s Observer newspaper - they sleep on benches in public parks or on the streets because the only night shelter in the city is often full.
Brothers first witnessed child migrants for herself when she saw a group squeezing through a rail fence of a train station in Paris.
“I knew already that this migration route went through Paris and people would go from there to Calais to try to get to England or north to Scandinavia,” she said, describing how the Port of Calais can play a vital part for those seeking asylum.
“I was so amazed that such small kids could be tangled up in this maelstrom.”
She approached some of the children at a soup kitchen in the French capital and was later given access to a night shelter – run by the Salvation Army - with help from non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“The kids…are not like other children, they have seen so much serious stuff in their short lives.”
“There is so much shouting around (migration issues) and you almost couldn’t hear the voices of the people concerned here… I wanted to win back a little bit of space to get their version across,” Brothers said during an interview about her book.
Many of these children have no memories of Afghanistan because they were born in refugee camps in Pakistan or Iran, which together host some 3-million Afghan refugees, she said.
They often have no idea of either the journey or the destination when they are sent on the road by parents or relatives trying to spare them a bleak future in their home country.
It might be years before they reach Europe.
May 14, 2017
I stumbled on this book quite by accident when I was checking Goodreads to see if Steven Lang’s new book Hinterland was there, and discovered this one with the same title, by Australian journalist Caroline Brothers, who is living and working in the UK and Europe.
Hinterland is a remarkable book. This story of two brothers on an odyssey across Europe to find a home in the UK where they have human rights pulls at the heart strings, all the more so because it is based on an awful truth. Of the hordes of refugees descending on Europe and the UK, hundreds are unaccompanied minors. In the back of the book where she tells of the genesis of the book, Caroline Brothers explains how her characters Kabir aged eight, and Aryan aged fourteen, are a composite of children she has met and who told her their stories.
The story begins as the boys cross a river into Europe on a journey that began in Afghanistan. Escaping the Taliban, they have made their way through Iran and Turkey, and are now at the unwelcoming border into Greece. They have nothing but the two layers of clothing on their backs, clothing which is needed for the nights when they have to sleep out in the open. This odyssey means that they are often unimaginably cold, hungry and dirty, and always terrified of being caught and sent back.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/05/14/h...
Hinterland is a remarkable book. This story of two brothers on an odyssey across Europe to find a home in the UK where they have human rights pulls at the heart strings, all the more so because it is based on an awful truth. Of the hordes of refugees descending on Europe and the UK, hundreds are unaccompanied minors. In the back of the book where she tells of the genesis of the book, Caroline Brothers explains how her characters Kabir aged eight, and Aryan aged fourteen, are a composite of children she has met and who told her their stories.
The story begins as the boys cross a river into Europe on a journey that began in Afghanistan. Escaping the Taliban, they have made their way through Iran and Turkey, and are now at the unwelcoming border into Greece. They have nothing but the two layers of clothing on their backs, clothing which is needed for the nights when they have to sleep out in the open. This odyssey means that they are often unimaginably cold, hungry and dirty, and always terrified of being caught and sent back.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/05/14/h...
February 27, 2012
Was looking forward to this book - so felt disappointed at it's over-written early pages and feared here would be one more fetishisation-of-suffering through aesthetics book. But no, it soon settles down to tell the story of two brothers travelling overland from Kabul to London and it does this very well, detailing the many obstacles that they find in their way, the small victories, the small mercies. It is, as Barbara Trapido commands us on the cover, 'a story everyone should read.'
There are times in the narrative, however, when you feel very distant from the characters - as if they are acting out their lives underwater - and I think this is a danger of any such book: Western journalist ventriloquises the experience of small-town Afghan boys. I ended up feeling very uneasy about this. As a reader and as an activist on human rights, I want this book to be read and for the story to get the attention it deserves. As a writer, however, I struggled to take seriously the close third person point of view, the slide into first person at the close of the book: whose stories are these, whose voice is speaking, where does the power lie?
There are times in the narrative, however, when you feel very distant from the characters - as if they are acting out their lives underwater - and I think this is a danger of any such book: Western journalist ventriloquises the experience of small-town Afghan boys. I ended up feeling very uneasy about this. As a reader and as an activist on human rights, I want this book to be read and for the story to get the attention it deserves. As a writer, however, I struggled to take seriously the close third person point of view, the slide into first person at the close of the book: whose stories are these, whose voice is speaking, where does the power lie?
August 23, 2012
An interesting story of two brothers as they travel from Afghanistan to England in hopes of finding some freedom from the Taliban. Although it is an amazing story, it is not well written.
The storyline is jumbled and jumps from past to present and different locations so often that I had a hard time keeping up. And there was not much detail or development into the characters. This cross-country journey was squished into a mere 245 pages... there is no way that all the details of their journey could have been explained.
An interesting story for a first novel... but Brothers could have done so much more with the tale of these two brothers.
The storyline is jumbled and jumps from past to present and different locations so often that I had a hard time keeping up. And there was not much detail or development into the characters. This cross-country journey was squished into a mere 245 pages... there is no way that all the details of their journey could have been explained.
An interesting story for a first novel... but Brothers could have done so much more with the tale of these two brothers.
February 17, 2013
This was a good book that I would actually give 3.5 stars to. It is a story of two young boys who were trying to escape Afganistan and make it to England. The crazy thing about the story was the modern-time setting and what life was like for these boys after they had lost everything. The fact that this type of thing goes on all around us during this day in age is disturbing. However, on the brighter side, their opinions and attitudes towards the most simple things are a great reminder of the things we should be grateful for and that we should not take these things for granted. Ie. Family, going to school, owning a bed, food, etc. It's a good read that I would recommend.
September 8, 2022
Anyone who wants to understand the plight of refugees should read this book and especially those who think that asylum seekers are spongers and should be refused entry to this country; educate yourself with this book! It describes the hardships and desperation of people who have lost so much and have no choice but to try and escape for a safer life. It follows the fortunes of two brothers fleeing from Afghanistan and the terrible hardships they face and how their determination and spirit pushes them on. This should be essential reading for everyone.
December 26, 2012
One of the sadder stories I can remember, Caroline Brothers brings the boys alive and their story is immediate. My heart goes out to the hundreds of young people trying to escape oppression. I found the cirmcunstances to be completely believable. I couldn't put it down.
June 24, 2018
The book opens with a group of fifteen Afgahnistan refugees fleeing their homeland and attempting to find a future life in Europe. The principal protagonist of the story is Aryan and his young brother Kabir. Aryan is 14 yo and kabir is 8 yo. They have a very close friend Hamid. They have crossed the mountains separating Iran from Turkey and made it to Istanbul. They become part of the exodus of refugees fleeing oppression and there is an active escape network operating. They are intrusted to a Turkish boy with a withered arm and they have to run the border posts between countries. They risk starvation or imprisonment in foreign jails if discovered.
The young Turkish boy eventually leaves them with instructions to cross a river and hide behind a wall until a certain truck will arrive to pick them up. Aryan as the older brother has taken responsibility of Kabir upon himself. Their target destination is London. Their motivational mantra is Kabul Tehran Istanbul Athens Rome Paris London.
They are transported in great discomfort in the back of the truck. It finally stops and Aryan and Kabir are physically removed from the truck, the truck doors slam shut and the truck departs. The boys are distressed that they have been separated from their friend Hamid. They have made it to Greece. They are accommodated in a barn and transported each day to be labourers on picking oranges. They receive bread and thin soup from the Greek farmer's wife. "She has barnacles on her face like the nodes insects make under bark." An example of Brothers delightful alternate and imaginative description of people.
They struggle with the question why did they leave their homeland but they cannot turn back now. The horror that lies behind them is such that even though they go forward into an unknown they believe it can be no worse that what they have left. The conditions are dreadful and Aryan takes a fall from his ladder whilst picking oranges and sprains his ankle.
They are being exploited and the farmer is underpaying them but eventually Aryan accepts it is a start and perhaps begins to understand that this is part of the price that has to be paid to escape to a new future. The farmer chides him that maybe you don't want to wait for the truck to Italy - the next step. To his question to the farmer of when is the truck coming, the farmer responds, only when the work is done.
Brothers writing drags you in so that you feel for the young boys and what will happen to them. We all have hardship but some have more than others.
The young Turkish boy eventually leaves them with instructions to cross a river and hide behind a wall until a certain truck will arrive to pick them up. Aryan as the older brother has taken responsibility of Kabir upon himself. Their target destination is London. Their motivational mantra is Kabul Tehran Istanbul Athens Rome Paris London.
They are transported in great discomfort in the back of the truck. It finally stops and Aryan and Kabir are physically removed from the truck, the truck doors slam shut and the truck departs. The boys are distressed that they have been separated from their friend Hamid. They have made it to Greece. They are accommodated in a barn and transported each day to be labourers on picking oranges. They receive bread and thin soup from the Greek farmer's wife. "She has barnacles on her face like the nodes insects make under bark." An example of Brothers delightful alternate and imaginative description of people.
They struggle with the question why did they leave their homeland but they cannot turn back now. The horror that lies behind them is such that even though they go forward into an unknown they believe it can be no worse that what they have left. The conditions are dreadful and Aryan takes a fall from his ladder whilst picking oranges and sprains his ankle.
They are being exploited and the farmer is underpaying them but eventually Aryan accepts it is a start and perhaps begins to understand that this is part of the price that has to be paid to escape to a new future. The farmer chides him that maybe you don't want to wait for the truck to Italy - the next step. To his question to the farmer of when is the truck coming, the farmer responds, only when the work is done.
Brothers writing drags you in so that you feel for the young boys and what will happen to them. We all have hardship but some have more than others.
January 7, 2020
For the first time in my life, I saw the world from the eyes of someone we pass off as an illegal immigrant. Two brothers living life, having dreams & aspirations lose everything in a blink. They lose both their parents, their home, their country everything they ever knew. Only thing they could dream of was a chance to live a better life, to be able to go to school. It is so sad to know that such a high percentage of such people are minors. They are the ones who never got a chance at anything. Life was basically snatched from their hands.
The book gives a detailed account of not only their journey but looks inside them and allows the reader to bond with them. The aspects regarding borders, government, police are all described carefully. The kids are able to find not only cheaters but also angels who help them throughout their journey. They are faced with lots of hardships but are also able to find loopholes and supporters. In that aspect the book is balanced.
It feels sad to know that the book is based on true facts. However, given the current political situations in some countries, this is a fact which the world has to live with and face.
Grip Factor: 4.5
Language Style: 4
Engaging Plot: 4.5
Characters: 4.5
Satisfying End: 4
https://booklookat.blogspot.com/
The book gives a detailed account of not only their journey but looks inside them and allows the reader to bond with them. The aspects regarding borders, government, police are all described carefully. The kids are able to find not only cheaters but also angels who help them throughout their journey. They are faced with lots of hardships but are also able to find loopholes and supporters. In that aspect the book is balanced.
It feels sad to know that the book is based on true facts. However, given the current political situations in some countries, this is a fact which the world has to live with and face.
Grip Factor: 4.5
Language Style: 4
Engaging Plot: 4.5
Characters: 4.5
Satisfying End: 4
https://booklookat.blogspot.com/
March 15, 2022
Hinterland tells the story of two Afghan brothers, Aryan and Kabir, aged 14 and 8, who flee their country with the goal of reaching London, where they dream of going to school. The book follows them on their journey across Europe.
If I am honest, I found the book hard to get through because of how heartbreaking it is.
As a work of literature, I found its execution a little lacking. I think my main criticism would be that Aryan and Kabir don't seem have sufficiently developed personalities. One empathizes with them on account of the hardships they go through. Yet I found them lacking as characters. I realize the point of this book is to tell the journey of migrants/refugees coming to Europe. Perhaps the author never set out with any great literary intention, although that doesn't seem to be the case considering the introductory chapter.
I had never read a detailed account of the trials and suffering people go through in order to reach Europe, so in that sense, I found this book very eye-opening and a hugely important read. I'm glad to have read it. In light of the current situation in the Ukraine and the rising number of Ukranian migrants, I think it's extremely important to hear and read stories like Aryan and Kabir's.
If I am honest, I found the book hard to get through because of how heartbreaking it is.
As a work of literature, I found its execution a little lacking. I think my main criticism would be that Aryan and Kabir don't seem have sufficiently developed personalities. One empathizes with them on account of the hardships they go through. Yet I found them lacking as characters. I realize the point of this book is to tell the journey of migrants/refugees coming to Europe. Perhaps the author never set out with any great literary intention, although that doesn't seem to be the case considering the introductory chapter.
I had never read a detailed account of the trials and suffering people go through in order to reach Europe, so in that sense, I found this book very eye-opening and a hugely important read. I'm glad to have read it. In light of the current situation in the Ukraine and the rising number of Ukranian migrants, I think it's extremely important to hear and read stories like Aryan and Kabir's.
July 29, 2017
I finished Hinterland this morning. I wanted to know what happened to Aryan 12 and Kabir, 8. They leave war torn Agfghanistan, the Taliban have taken everything and are now in control. The boys want a better life and a education and a future. Encouraged by family members they leave one photo of the family and a contact number. On foot, boat, train, bus and the fatal last transport for some, a refrigerated van to London. They are exploited, abused and further traumatised by the foreign world unacceptance of refugees. At times they do encounter acts of kindness from other refugees. It is heartbreaking story. It is fiction, but Caroline Brothers has researched her material with the Human Rights Watch, and listening to young Afghans who shared their experiences with her. Caroline Brothers is an Australian who lives in Paris, and writes for the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times.
March 10, 2019
It's hard to say you really liked a book when the subject matter shouldn't be liked....Brothers manages to share this shattering journey of two young boys fleeing Iran and attempting to get to the UK in such a way that you connect deeply with the boys. We know from our daily news bulletins, that what is happening to them and thousands of other young people is real and although this is tale of 'fiction' it is fiction based on facts.....I can honestly say it has given me a very different perspective on the struggles of those who are desperate, so desperate that they risk their lives every single day just to 'live'....if you haven't put this one on your 'to read' list I suggest you do.....I salute you Ms Brothers for taking the time to share this tale of those who through no fault of their own are stranded in encampments....kindness costs nothing, let us all be a little kinder and support asylum seeker centres in our backyards.
June 16, 2024
The heart-wrenching story of Aryan and Kabir- aged 14 and 8 - who move across the refugee pipeline across Europe from Afghanistan.
This is a complex book, narrated compellingly by Aryan in the present tense. The practical and emotional response to migrants and refugees are equally complex. Caroline Brothers focuses on the boys’ story and their experiences as unaccompanied minors. My first reaction is disbelief that children so very young could get further than a couple of miles without adult intervention. Adults do intervene but none really in the way you would like to think - they collude, support, exploit in different ways.
It is easy to turn your face away from the plight of migrants and refugees and quite clear that the existing policies and practical measures are wholly inadequate.
Writing like this does help expose the issues and at the very least puts a human face on suffering. I guess none of us have any easy solutions.
This is a complex book, narrated compellingly by Aryan in the present tense. The practical and emotional response to migrants and refugees are equally complex. Caroline Brothers focuses on the boys’ story and their experiences as unaccompanied minors. My first reaction is disbelief that children so very young could get further than a couple of miles without adult intervention. Adults do intervene but none really in the way you would like to think - they collude, support, exploit in different ways.
It is easy to turn your face away from the plight of migrants and refugees and quite clear that the existing policies and practical measures are wholly inadequate.
Writing like this does help expose the issues and at the very least puts a human face on suffering. I guess none of us have any easy solutions.
May 29, 2019
One of the best books I've read in a while. It was short, easy to read, and after reading a thick book, this was just the perfect one to read. But oh, the feeling I had when I finally finished it.
April 7, 2019
I found this book really moving. It's the story of two young brothers as they make their way from Afghanistan to England - refugees hoping for welcome in the promised land. It's the story of brotherly love, of survival, of courage and optimism, in the face of the many hardships they encounter during their long journey - abuse, cold, hunger, exhaustion, to name just a few. For those of us who have driven past the camps in Calais, the description of their life in the camp is particularly hard to swallow. I can only say that the ending leaves the reader feeling a sense of anger and shame - thoroughly recommend it !
May 12, 2017
I feel a little mean only rating this book with 3 stars. It is one of those books which needed to be written and certainly carries an important message about the plight of refugees. The book shocks and encourages in equal measure but seems to be missing something. The central characters, 2 young boys certainly go through terrible trials trying to escape the middle east but they were not characters I could really believe in. Hinterland is worth a read and does carry an important message but don't expect Khaled Hosseini.
September 27, 2017
This is a compelling, eye-opening story of two Afghan brothers (14 & 8 years old) who are refugees from the war and spend nearly a year making their way through Iraq, Turkey, Greece, Italy, and France in an effort to reach England, where they hope to go to school. Some parts seem implausible, not, I suspect, because they're unrealistic but because what we force the victims of 21st-century wars to go through is quite literally unbelievable. The boys tug at my heart through their pluck and resilience.
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