Hinterland Book

It is night and two boys are crossing a river that is also a border. They have nothing but the clothes on their backs their inheritance stitched into the lining of a belt and the courage of an enormous gamble: that Europe will offer them a future they can no longer wait for in Afghanistan. Travelling by truck by boat by train by bus and on foot Aryan and his younger brother Kabir have embarked on an epic journey clinging to an itinerary they repeat like a mantra so as not to lose their way: Kabul Tehran Istanbul Athens Rome Paris London. There are moments of wonder and adventure but also battles against cold heat hunger violence and exhaustion. Whether they are harvesting half-frozen oranges in Greece or hiding behind a false wall on a truck to Italy or sleeping under the rafters of a sawmill in France the brothers are exploited for their labour hustled for their money and ignored by almost everyone except the police. Hinterland is a novel about two children in the aftermath of trauma; underage homeless and invisible in a foreign land.It shows what happens when the adult world rushes in and what our universe looks like from the other side of the glass to those displaced children who are out there even now on the road.Read More