IN THE SEA THERE ARE CROCODILES by Fabio Geda (David Fickling, £10.99)

With all the current anxiety and antagonism concerning political asylum seekers, this moving story will bring a new understanding and awareness of the experiences and the desperation of those refugees who search for freedom and security.

The date is 2000, the place Afghanistan, the hero ten-year-old Enaiatollah. He and his family are in mortal danger from the Taliban. His mother smuggles him over the border into Pakistan; there she makes him promise that he must never use drugs, use weapons, cheat or steal.

Next morning he reaches out for her comforting presence and finds her gone; she has gone back to care for her other children.

So begins a five-year perilous journey far from his ‘little village in Ghazni... the most beautiful place in the world’ to a safe haven.

On the way he must travel through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Greece while struggling to find shelter, food and work, just to keep alive. He treks up icy mountains, hides in trucks, crosses the sea in a leaky dinghy; he is attacked and threatened; he takes on horrific, dangerous jobs for long hours to pay people-smugglers, faces aggressive police and frightening border crossings, is beset by thieves and liars while being surprised and heartened by the kindness of strangers.

When he eventually reaches Turin he finds “a new life” with an Italian family. Here he meets Fabio Geda, an acclaimed novelist, who listens to Enaiatollah’s story and turns it into pages of affecting and engaging prose.

Writing in the first person, the author captures the voice of a young boy; his innocence, his resilience and courage in the face of cruelty and exploitation, conveying his despair and pain, his flashes of hope and joy.

Occasionally, Geda breaks into the young boy’s account to prompt and encourage without breaking the flow. This book is published simultaneously in an adult edition by Harvill Secker; it will surely inspire readers both old and young.