Majid Hussain
Majid was 14 when he was forced to flee Nigeria after his father was killed in sectarian violence, and found himself trapped in a life of slavery.
Sina Habte
Sina escaped the military regime in Eritrea when she was six months pregnant, desperate to find a safe life for her unborn son.
Mohammed Kazkji
Mohammed left Syria to avoid being drafted to fight for Assad, then found himself caught in Libya's civil war.
CAST AWAY: STORIES OF SURVIVAL FROM EUROPE'S REFUGEE CRISIS
Every day hundreds of families leave their homes and undertake a perilous journey across the Mediterranean, hoping to reach safety in Europe. Who are they? And what is driving them to risk their lives on the sea? Charlotte McDonald-Gibson has spent years reporting on Europe's refugee crisis, and in Cast Away she follows the fates of five individuals fleeing war and persecution, offering a vivid glimpse into the personal dilemmas, pressures choices and hopes that lie beneath the headlines.
REVIEWS
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Gripping storytelling. McDonald-Gibson balances individual stories with a wider historical sweep and offers insights into the extraordinary political and historical contexts of the migrants' home countries... [One of] the most important books you will read this year'
The Irish Times
A closely reported, passionately argued, often deeply moving account of five refugees' journeys to Europe... Cast Away starts to do for the refugees what British abolitionists did for the slave trade... mobilise eyewitness testimony to promote empathy, and through empathy, better policy'
The Guardian,
Book of the Week
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McDonald-Gibson keenly evokes the hell of their voyages... To read these vivid stories is to understand not just the enormity of what is taking place, but the courage and desperation of those who embark on them'
The New Statesman