The most recommended books about refugees

Wyman’s later book, The Abandonment of the Jews got all the attention, but Paper Walls, about how immigration to the United States actually worked and how the US government alternately tried and refused to aid Jews desperately attempting to escape increasing Nazi persecution and violence, is my go-to recommendation. If this is your family’s story, or if you want to know why Jews couldn’t just leave, Wyman’s book will explain a lot.

A rich historical account of the experiences of Afghans living in urban Pakistan from the 1970s to the post-2001 ‘War on Terror’ period, this book provides a fascinating discussion of urban informality, what it means to belong, the role of citizenship, and the engagement and absence of the state in cities.

The book utilises ethnographic observations and interviews but also valuable archival data–raising important considerations of who gets remembered, as well as underscoring that urban refugees are not a new phenomenon. 

I write books for children, so I love to read middle-grade novels. Though the action in this one centers around three young protagonists and eventually connects their stories, there are plenty of family moments, historical facts, and tense encounters that will appeal to adults.

One child flees Nazi Germany; another escapes Cuba, and yet a third leaves Syria after a bombing. The way the author portrays the danger, hardship, loss, and deception that the families experience on their journeys makes the reader feel powerfully connected and sympathetic to their plights.

It is a real eye-opener regarding what families throughout history had to endure. Unfortunately, people are still experiencing such perils today due to our unstable world. 

There are precious few books on Bhutan, which adds to its allure in my eyes. I loved reading about the author’s childhood in a village near India, where he didn’t see a car until he was eight.

Om Dhungel’s smarts took him further from home, including to nearby Bangladesh. He rose to become a senior member of the government's telecoms service — when phones were so scarce that phone numbers were only four digits long and even the king of Bhutan needed help making a call sometimes!

But in the 1980s, Bhutan began an ethnic-cleansing campaign against citizens of Nepali ancestry. Om fled to Australia and contributed enormously to helping thousands of other Bhutanese refugees. I love reading books about good people—and Om is certainly one of them: a true gentleman and sensitive soul.

I was blown away by this debut novel and the skill of its writer. It covered multiple perspectives, times, and locations, giving layered and deep insights into the Chinese invasion and annexation of Tibet, and its effects on Tibetans forced to become refugees, first in Nepal then in Canada.

A small clay statue, or ku, plays a central role endowed with profound meaning about cultural belonging, ownership, and appropriation. Through the varied interpretations of its form and facial expressions, it is both a character itself and a symbol of what other characters experience.
I found this to be a beautifully written, well-constructed, powerful, and moving tale of displacement, emphasizing the essential nature of homeland, how place shapes and defines us all, with much resonance in American Indigeneity.

I love a good adventure, especially stories that take place in far-off countries. What Strange Paradise fits the bill on both counts, but there’s so much more. It’s the story of a young boy named Amir who is washed ashore on a Greek island. He’s the sole survivor of a disastrous migrant crossing.

What’s remarkable about this story is that the other main character, Vanna, a slightly older Greek girl, helps him evade the authorities (running from problems of her own), and together, they tell you everything that’s good about humanity.

It’s a beautifully written tale that will both break your heart and give you hope for a better world.

Nine-year-old Ahmet, a Syrian refugee, has arrived in Mrs. Khan’s classroom after fleeing the horrors of war. One of the things that is so striking about this book is how the children in the story have far more understanding than most adults. It is both funny and heartfelt and is a masterclass in teaching empathy – for the young and the old.

Under the Broken Sky is a powerful story of twelve-year-old Natsu in Manchuria near the Soviet border in 1945. Natsu sets out on a desperate quest to rescue her younger sister. She refuses to quit under dangerous conditions and exemplifies tenaciousness and clever thinking. A heartwarming novel written skillfully in verse.

My final choice is a scintillating work of scholarship by Lyndsey Stonebridge, Professor of Humanities and Human Rights at the University of Birmingham. Entitled Placeless People: Writing, Rights, and Refugees, it draws upon a range of reportage, political theory, poetry, and other texts to ask challenging questions about the stance that modern states and citizens in Western societies adopt towards refugees who are sometimes described as distant strangers. By engaging with authors who are relatively well known, such as George Orwell, W.H. Auden, Simone Weil, Samuel Beckett, and the political philosopher Hannah Arendt, and with those who may be less familiar, such as the American journalist Dorothy Thompson (1893-1961) and the contemporary Palestinian Lebanese-born poet Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, Stonebridge insists that it is essential to portray refugees as deserving and demanding something other than charity or humanitarian concern no matter how well-intentioned. Instead, the appropriate response is to demand… show more.

This book has all my favourite things: beautiful writing, fascinating characters, an exotic setting, and a page-turning plot. It’s also full of music since both main characters are musicians.

The dual storyline is masterfully designed, and I love the way the parallel stories eventually intersect. The parts set in Beirut in the 1940s and Syria in 2014 are exceptionally riveting for me. This is a novel for novelists.