First published 2020
Salva Dut walks across Sudan's burning landscape, one foot in front of the other, as civil war tears his country apart. When gunfire erupts at his school, the eleven-year-old boy flees into the wilderness, joining thousands of other lost children on an impossible journey to safety. Meanwhile, in the same region decades later, eleven-year-old Nya spends her days walking to fetch water for her family, a dangerous trek that consumes hours under the scorching sun. These two young lives, separated by time but connected by the same unforgiving land, reveal how water shapes survival in South Sudan. Salva's story follows his transformation from frightened refugee to determined leader, while Nya's daily struggle shows the burden carried by countless children. Their parallel journeys converge in an unexpected way that shows how one person's survival can become another's salvation.
Genres: survival, historical-fiction, african-literature, adventure
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, survival
Setting: South Sudan, Sudan
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
221 pages · Paperback · Thorndike Striving Reader
Content warnings: war