This is a riveting and illuminating book. The author is an Albanian Kosovar who lived through a long period of persecution by what was supposed to be her own government. This culminated in the atrocities and flight we all saw on television. Before that there was the longer context of steady clearance of Albanians southward, by Serbians, from the region for over a hundred years. Over the decade before, of course, the forces of Greater Serbia had been exerting themselves all across the region.
For all of this Remzije Sherifi maintains a forgiving spirit and constructive outlook. Reading her book you feel she longs to return to her homeland to help with the rebuilding, only health prevents her. She is a cancer survivor.
Now she works with asylum seekers in Britain and, with her colleagues,
obviously does a tremendous job for understanding and tolerance in almost
impossible circumstances. We need more like her in this country. The Chief
Executive of the Scottish Refugee Council has been quoted as saying 'this
book should be compulsory reading for all politicians'. The Scottish Review of Books says it should be distributed to all readers of the Daily Mail. It clears away all the misleading hype that surrounds the asylum seeker issue and brings the individuals and their families forward as normal human beings in extraordinary circumstances.
It is also a totally gripping read.