Speed Reading - Three books for Refugee Week
As
a child, Iranian-born Dina Nayeri found sanctuary in the West. The Ungrateful
Refugee (Canongate, £16.99; Tablet price £15.30) examines what it means to
leave one’s homeland and become a refugee. Interwoven with her family’s own
experiences are the stories of those less fortunate. Nayeri writes eloquently
about the desperate desire to be believed by immigration officers and the
struggles of assimilation. The right to seek asylum is enshrined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, so Nayeri questions why refugees have
obsessively to prove their worth and gratitude to the rich nations that
reluctantly take them in.
Lost Children Archive (Fourth Estate, £16.99; Tablet price £15.30) highlights the appalling treatment of unaccompanied Latin American children arriving on the United States border, many of whom are fleeing poverty or drug gangs. The title refers to those who “have lost the right to a childhood” and those who simply disappear. If they don’t die in the desert, they…
Lost Children Archive (Fourth Estate, £16.99; Tablet price £15.30) highlights the appalling treatment of unaccompanied Latin American children arriving on the United States border, many of whom are fleeing poverty or drug gangs. The title refers to those who “have lost the right to a childhood” and those who simply disappear. If they don’t die in the desert, they…