My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the Worlds Deadliest Migration Route

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WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE

WINNER OF IRISH BOOK OF THE YEAR

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE

The most important work of contemporary reporting I have ever read SALLY ROONEY
The Western world has turned its back on refugees, fuelling one of the most devastating human rights disasters in history.

In August 2018, Sally Hayden received a Facebook message. Hi sister Sally, we need your help, it read. We are under bad condition in Libya prison. If you have time, I will tell you all the story. More messages followed from more refugees. They told stories of enslavement and trafficking, torture and murder, tuberculosis and sexual abuse. And they revealed something else: that they were all incarcerated as a direct result of European policy.

From there began a staggering investigation into the migrant crisis across North Africa. This book follows the shocking experiences of refugees seeking sanctuary, but it also surveys the bigger picture: the negligence of NGOs and corruption within the United Nations. The economics of the twenty-first-century slave trade and the EUs bankrolling of Libyan militias. The trials of people smugglers, the frustrations of aid workers, the loopholes refugees seek out and the role of social media in crowdfunding ransoms. Who was accountable for the abuse Where were the people finding solutions Why wasnt it being widely reported

At its heart, this is a book about people who have made unimaginable choices, risking everything to survive in a system that wants them to be silent and disappear.

Reviews

Journalism of the most urgent kind
Financial Times

The triumph of the book is to inject a renewed urgency and moral clarity into a story most people think they are familiar with
The Times

[A] devastating, moving and damning account of one of the tragedies of our age Hayden never flinches in documenting human nature at its worst its best is shown here, too
Irish Independent

The most important work of contemporary reporting I have ever read I hope that Sally Hayden's work can help to begin a radically new and overdue discussion about Europe's approach to migration and borders
Sally Rooney

Brilliant, hugely important reportage on the ongoing situation many of us try to tune out
Marian Keyes

What a devastating book about the catastrophic inhumanity of European migration policy. Its a journalistic masterpiece. Shattering stories. It absolutely demands to be read Essential
Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers

Extremely good
Mark OConnell, author of Notes from an Apocalypse

Compassionate, brave, enraging, beautifully written and incredibly well researched. Hayden exposes the truth
Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland

One of the most important testaments of this awful time in life's history. It is both heartbreaking and stoic
Edna O'Brien, author of The Little Red Chairs

This vivid chronicle may make you cry, but it should make you angry A blistering rebuke
Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor of Channel 4 News

A veritable masterclass in journalism The most riveting, detailed and damning account ever written on the deadliest of migration routes
Christina Lamb, Chief Foreign Correspondent of the Sunday Times

Heart-stopping A vital book for anyone who wants to feel what it means to be human in the 21st century
Fintan OToole, author of We Dont Know Ourselves

Author Bio

Sally Hayden is an award-winning journalist and photographer currently focused on migration, conflict and humanitarian crises. She has worked with VICE, VICE News, CNN International, the Financial Times, TIME, BBC, the Washington Post, the Irish Times, the Guardian, the New York Times, Magnum Photos, Channel 4 News, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, NBC News, the Sunday Times, Newsweek, RTE, ELLE, Marie Claire, ZEIT Online, the Independent, the Telegraph, Deutsche Welle, the New Statesman, the New Internationalist, the National, the Huffington Post and ITV News. HEFAT certified, Sally has reported from countries including Nigeria, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, France, Germany, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Ireland, Lebanon, Jordan, DR Congo, Panama, Cambodia, the Gambia, Liberia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Rwanda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Madagascar, the US, Italy, Kenya and Uganda. Her writing has been translated into nine languages and she has appeared as a guest on national and international media.