No Safe Place - Hardcover

Ellis, Deborah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0888999739 ISBN 13: 9780888999733

Publisher: Groundwood Books, 2010

Synopsis

Orphaned and plagued with the grief of losing everyone he loves, 15-year-old Abdul has made a long, fraught journey from his war-torn home in Baghdad, only to end up in The Jungle — a squalid, makeshift migrant community in Calais. Desperate to escape, he takes a spot in a small, overloaded England-bound boat that’s full of other illegal migrants — and a secret stash of heroin. A sudden skirmish leaves the boat stalled in the middle of the Channel, the pilot dead, and four young people remaining — Abdul; Rosalia, a Romani girl who has escaped from the white slave trade; Cheslav, gone AWOL from a Russian military school; and Jonah, the boat pilot’s ten-year-old nephew. As they attempt to complete the frantic and hazardous Channel crossing their individual stories are revealed and their futures become increasingly uncertain. No Safe Place is a novel of high adventure and heart-stopping suspense by a writer at the height of her powers.

About this title

Reviews

Gr 9 Up–This novel moves fast and furiously as readers follow the plight of three teen orphans who are attempting to escape from their troubled homelands to England. Rosalia, a Roma girl; Cheslav, a Russian boy; and Abdul, an Iraqi boy are all fleeing the cruelties of their war-torn cultures. The exciting and moving story manages to pull in the threads of our global history in the making–bombings in Baghdad, sex trafficking, and the harsh lives of underage conscripted soldiers. Violence is a big part of the teens' short lives as a result of the injustices in the world around them; it includes beatings and deaths as a result of racism and sexism. The story line revolves around their experiences as they come together in Calais and make the crossing to England. Ellis deftly uses flashbacks to fill in the backstories of each character, reminding readers of how they can never really know where people are coming from emotionally. Her writing is highly accessible, and yet understated. Orphans of the world and victims of human trafficking need all the press they can get, and this book does a great job of introducing the topic and allowing young people to see beyond the headlines of "Another illegal accidentally dies in Chunnel."–Meredith Toumayan, The Governor's Academy, Byfield, MAα© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Packed with fast, sometimes brutal action, this searing contemporary novel tells of four angry, desperate, refugee kids who meet in Calais after months on the road and help each other enter England in search of a safe home. Abdul, an Iraqi Kurd, was in the car with his mother and little sister when they were killed by gunshots; now he keeps money shoved up his backside to pay smugglers. Rosalia, a fierce Roma teenager, is escaping forced prostitution. Abandoned by his mother, Cheslav is running from a brutal military school in Russia. They all care for little Jonah, an English orphan, who is scared to go home. Flashbacks of each character’s personal story are interwoven with the present-tense violence, prejudice, kindness, and community that the young characters find on their journey. Ellis attempts a great deal for one short book, but she makes even the multiple coincidences work, and there is no sentimentality. The kids fight with each other, but they also bond as survivors. The spare narrative celebrates the power of community to overcome the worst. Grades 7-10. --Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Groundwood Books
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0888999739
• ISBN 13: 9780888999733
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224