RUN FOR YOUR LIFE

Arriving as traumatized stowaways, Azari and her mother seek refuge in Ireland, where they navigate the country’s troubling system for working with asylum seekers.

In their home country—an unidentified analogue of impoverished nations where women lack basic rights—girls receive little education. Azari left school at 12 but knows a little English, unlike her illiterate mother, so she must repeatedly tell government officials their story, reliving the trauma each time. Though the officials are civil, the system into which refugees are dumped is inhumane and bureaucratic. Application submitted, they wait out the process with other asylum seekers, billeted in one of the run-down, overcrowded facilities the government rents from private companies. Conditions are unsanitary, and residents are fed substandard fare. A mixed bunch in every way, the refugees are united in their longing for their traditional foods. Brown-skinned Azari is acutely aware of the many continents and cultures the refugees come from and the divisions among them, but to the Irish girls at her school, their enrichment class is simply Black School. Some locals are friendly—like the girl who helps her with menstrual supplies and invites her to book club and the boy who shares her love and talent for running. Others simply want the refugees gone—and are willing to go to extreme lengths. A resourceful, determined survivor, Azari exemplifies the courage and endurance of refugees.

A gripping, educational page-turner about a pressing issue that affects millions worldwide.