Yasmin’s Journey (Neutron Stars)

Reading age 4 – 7 interest age 9 – 13

Fifteen-year-old Yasmin lives with her parents and six year old brother Ali in a small town in Syria. The country is at war, and after her father is injured in a bomb blast, Yasmin is forced to leave Syria with Ali to find a new life for them both. Her difficult journey takes her through the refugee camps of Turkey, into Greece and ultimately to western Europe. In the face of many terrors and terrible dangers, Yasmin strikes up a romantic friendship with sixteen-year-old Kamal. Can they find peace and safety together? Featuring a warm romantic love story combined with relevant cultural and social issues, this book is idea for the girl who may be a reluctant reader but who wants to read books that are applicable to her age group. As part of the Promises series, this book tells a love story with light-heartedness and warmth, while dealing with real-life issues from a different perspective.

About the Author

Miriam Halahmy has been a Londoner all her life but her parents lived on Hayling Island for twenty-five years and she’s been visiting the Island regularly since the 1970’s. She has published novels, short stories and poetry for adults and young people. Her stories and poems have been included in anthologies, read on the radio and performed on stage. Miriam has been married into an Iraqi family for over thirty years and their stories provided some of the inspiration for this book. She has worked with refugees and asylum seekers for many years in schools as well as leading workshops for English PEN and the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture. She has written and education resource on child asylum seekers. Miriam is and active participant in promoting peace and dialogue across divided communities. She believes in standing up to any injustice, however small..She is the author of Hidden her first novel for Young Adults.