From the author of the acclaimed novel 'Face' comes this powerful new novel, about a boy whose parents do an astonishing thing. Recognising the danger to their son in his native country, they take him to London, purportedly on a holiday: and leave him there.
Alem is on holiday with his father for a few days in London. He's never been out of Ethiopia before and is very excited, until the unthinkable happens - his father leaves him.
His parents are afraid for Alem's life because of the political problems in Ethiopia, and believe he will be safer in London, even on his own.
Alem is now in the hands of the social services and the refugee council, trying to survive in an unfamiliar culture, and living from letter to letter waiting to hear news of his parents.
