The Lightless Sky: a Twelve-Year-Old Refugee's Harrowing Escape from Afghanistan and His Extraordinary Journey Across Half the World

The Lightless Sky: a Twelve-Year-Old Refugee’s Harrowing Escape from Afghanistan and His Extraordinary Journey Across Half the World
By Gulwali Passarlay
HarperOne, 2016. 361 pgs. Biography

Born in Afghanistan, after his father was killed by American troops, the Taliban wanted to recruit Gulwali as a suicide bomber and the Americans wanted him to be an informer. His mother was determined that her sons would have a better future and paid smugglers to take Gulwali and his older brother out of the country. Gulwali traveled 12,500 miles and passed through the hands of at least twenty-five smugglers. He crossed and was deported and re-crossed borders to Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France and finally Great Britain for nearly a year. He was imprisoned, beaten, starved, nearly drowned, but determined to reach the freedom his mother paid so much for him to have.

Through the experiences of Gulwali Passarlay the reader can glimpse the desperate situation for refugees trying to escape the chaos in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other war torn countries. SH