A House Without Walls

(Paperback)

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A House Without Walls is a powerful story of family, hope and redemption amidst the refugee crisis in Syria from the award-winning Elizabeth Laird, illustrated by Lucy Eldridge. Thirteen-year-old Safiya and her family have been driven out of Syria by civil war. Safiya knows how lucky she is - lucky not to be living in a refugee camp, lucky to be alive. But it's hard to feel grateful when she's forced to look after her father and brother rather than go back to school, and now that she's lost her home, she's lonelier than ever. As they struggle to rebuild their lives, Safiya realizes that her family has always been incomplete and with her own future in the balance, it's time to uncover the secrets that war has kept buried.

Reviews

[H]umane and empathetic . . . Not only eye-opening, important and topical, but a vivid, emotionally involving, nail-biting read . . .an effective call to action. -- Nicolette Jones, The Sunday Times Book of the Week on Welcome to Nowhere
A muscular, moving, thought-provoking book from an award-winning writer -- Guardian on Welcome to Nowhere
Not only does it explain how the war in Syria began in as clear a way as I have ever heard but [Elizabeth Laird] makes her characters lovable, loathable - and believable. They are children of war but not defined by it . . . fascinating and sing[s] with truth. -- Alex O'Connell, The Times Book of the Week on Welcome to Nowhere

Author Bio

Elizabeth Laird is the multi-award-winning author of several much-loved children's books, including The Garbage King, The Prince Who Walked with Lions and The Fastest Boy in the World. She has been shortlisted for the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal six times and her novel based on time spent in refugee camps in Jordan, Welcome to Nowhere, was the winner of the UKLA Award. She lives in Britain now, but still likes to travel as much as she can.