Mahtab's Story
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Mahtab was empty. She felt hungry...for water, for her father, for her grandmother, her aunts and uncles, for the trees in the back yard, the cabinet on the wall, the silver and glass objects so lovingly collected, for her mountains, the jagged peaks that cut the sky. Her father was dead. She felt sure of it. She was just a speck of dirt on the floor, drifting through the gap between the boards, falling to the ground.Mahtab and her family are forced to leave their home in Herat and journey secretly through the rocky mountains to Pakistan and from there to faraway Australia. Months go by, months of waiting, months of dread. Will they ever be reunited with their father, will they ever find a home?This compelling novel by one of Australia's best-loved children's authors is based on the true story of one girl's voyage to Australia with her family.'An important, eye-opening book.' Deborah Ellis'Kept me turning pages and holding my breath...an amazing story that me and all of my friends love.' - Inez, 12
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With timely immediacy, this novel highlights the plight of a family fleeing Afghanistan after persecution by the Taliban, narrated by 12-year-old Mahtab. Once her father determines that the family will immigrate to Australia, they embark on a harrowing journey ("Two weeks of fear, of the ice stone in the belly, of holding your breath, of whispering, of blocking from your mind everything you know or have heard of what they can do. They. Taliban"). The action occurs in fits and starts, with escapes punctuated by long periods of waiting. Mahtab sometimes seems more a lens than a real actor in the drama. However, she becomes more compelling when she exerts her influence, such as when she sacrifices an heirloom bracelet to help fellow refugees and when she lies to her younger siblings about hearing from their father, to reassure them after he forges ahead and leaves the family in Pakistan. The issues and plight that Gleeson's (Half a World Away) novel highlights may be more memorable than the characters sketched within. Ages 9 12.
