One night before putting him to bed Enaiatollahs mother tells him three things: dont use drugs dont use weapons & dont steal. The next day he wakes up to find she isnt there. Ten-year-old Enaiatollah is left alone in Pakistan to fend for himself. In a book that takes a true story & shapes it into a beautiful piece of fiction Italian novelist Fabio Geda describes Enaiatollahs remarkable five-year journey from Afghanistan to Italy where he finally managed to claim political asylum aged fifteen. His ordeal took him through Iran Turkey & Greece working on building sites in order to pay people-traffickers & enduring the physical misery of dangerous border crossings squeezed into the false bottoms of lorries or trekking across inhospitable mountains. A series of almost implausible strokes of fortune enabled him to get to Turin find help from an Italian family & meet Fabio Geda with whom he became friends. The result of their friendship is this unique book in which Enaiatollahs engaging moving voice is brilliantly captured by Gedas subtly simple storytelling. In Gedas hands Enaiatollahs journey becomes a universal story of stoicism in the face of fear & the search for a place where life is liveable.