Walk in My Shoes

Alwyn Evans (author)

Penguin Books, Australia: 2004; 346pp

ISBN: 0143002317

Genre: realistic fiction

Issues: family, friendship, migration, place, politics, refugees, war

Gulnessa and her family undergo a long and frightening journey of escape from Afghanistan, fleeing a civil war in which everybody from their clan is in danger of being murdered.

After having survived a cramped car journey, a long flight and an appalling sea voyage in a small boat, Nessa and her siblings finally arrive in Australia expecting to start a new life. Instead they find themselves herded into a Detention Centre to be ‘processed'.

At first grateful to be safe, together, with shelter and plenty of food, Nessa's family gradually realise that things are still very complicated. Endless interviews, hostile officers and the boredom of days without purpose begin to take their toll. They are haunted by nightmares - memories of death and the great Terror that dominated their lives. As her mother succumbs to depression, thirteen year old Nessa finds herself taking more and more responsibility for her family.

Will Australia ever accept the truth of their story? Will they ever be able to find a place of peace and safety to start a new life? This remarkable novel gives the reader insight into the harsher realities of migrant detention - the stories so rarely explored in the media. Thought-provoking and moving, this is a must for our multicultural society.

Highly recommended.