walk+in+my+shoes

=**Walk in My Shoes**=

Overview
This novel is the harrowing tale of an Afghani refugee, Gulnessa, and her struggle to establish a life for herself, and her family, away from persecution in her homeland. It is the result of extensive research; Evans states that it is a story ‘derived from…composite true experiences...told by a fictitious sixteen-year-old girl’ (p348). The novel is told retrospectively as Nessa (Gulnessa) strives to record the journey that has brought her family to a new life in Australia. Through her memories and her recurring dreams we are shown the persecution suffered by her family, and her community, in Afghanistan, as members of the Hazara minority group. Upon fleeing the country, without her father, the family and friend Abdul must overcome a hazardous trip over the border, a plane trip to Indonesia and then a nightmare-like experience on a small fishing boat before finally landing in Australia. The family’s life savings, and that of their grandparents, pays for this horrendous journey that eventually ends in a detention centre in outback Australia. Their life, once in detention, is one of waiting until they are granted temporary visas. Throughout this trauma the task of holding the family together falls to Nessa as detention causes a depression to descend upon her mother Fatimeh and the family are continually plagued with bad memories and a desperate concern for their future. Nessa’s life is hard, but hope is kept alive through her own personal strength and her growing, reciprocated feelings for Abdul. This is both a personal story of survival in adversity and a political statement on the Australian governments’ detainment of refugees, as well as a cry for compassion.

From the Penguin Teacher's notes