Guest review by Cindy Jefferies: HOPE NOT FEAR by Hassan Akkad

 

"A story that needed to be told."

First published in 2001 for children, Cindy Jefferies found success with her Fame School series with Usborne Books, obtaining 22 foreign rights deals. Latterly writing fiction for adults as Cynthia Jefferies, her first title The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan was published in 2018, followed a year later by The Honourable Life of Thomas Chayne, set during the English Civil Wars, followed in 2019. Both titles are now available in paperback.

In 2012, Hassan Akkad was a refugee from Syria, where he had been imprisoned and tortured for protesting against the regime. His story, including the perilous journey across Europe in 2015, as borders began to close, was told in the BBC series Exodus, our journey to Europe, some of which he filmed himself. The programmes won a BAFTA for Best Factual Series in 2017, by which time he had settled in London, spending a while with a family who hosted refugees through the charity Refugees At Home.

Hassan had been an English teacher in Damascus, and a keen photographer too. His excellent English meant that he was able to travel around the country, speaking about his experiences. Now he has put all this down, and more, in this challenging and moving book. It is a story that needed to be told.

It begins, not with his journey, but with him volunteering at Whipps Cross hospital during the pandemic. Not only did he work at great risk, alongside others cleaning the Covid ward before much PPE was available, he also campaigned for the removal of the £400 surcharge levied on immigrant cleaners and porters to use the NHS themselves. Who knew that such a levy had been put on so many front line workers in the NHS, an impossible cost for many to afford? Hassan raised the issue, fought to get heard, and won a repeal of it, an extraordinary success, cancelling a horrible injustice loaded on those who do so much to help us when we are in need.

Hassan Akkad is a young man who is not always very comfortable with praise. Survivor guilt is a painful thing to suffer from. He has more than physical scars to show for his experiences before he escaped. But he doesn’t lack courage, and it seems likely that he will continue to object to injustice wherever he feels he can help. With his large number of followers on social media he has a voice that tends to be heard, and he interviews well on TV and radio. His experiences have given him great empathy, and a desire to be helpful. Syria’s loss is very much our gain.

This is a poignant, at times harrowing, but always moving and uplifting memoir. The Guardian called Hassan "a vision of a kinder, more inclusive future". The paper suggested that this book should sit alongside When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi and The Language of Kindness by Christie Watson as an account of meeting a seemingly impossible situation with immense courage and grace. I would concur with that. And Hassan is building his career in other directions too. New on Netflix is a documentary film he has co-directed, Convergence: Courage in a Crisis. Judging by the trailer it’s well up to his usual standard, as is this excellent book.

Hope Not Fear  is published by Bluebird, an imprint of Pan Macmillan.

Guest review by Yvonne Coppard: THE BEEKEEPER OF ALEPPO by Christy Lefteri

 " ... truly brought home to me the lived experience of the people behind the daily headlines, and the astonishing power of the human spirit to endure and overcome."

Yvonne Coppard is a Writing Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund and writer of fiction for children and adults. See more on her website. 

Nuri and Afra live peacefully with their young son, Sami, in the hills above Aleppo. Afra is a talented artist; Nuri and his cousin, Mustafa, are beekeepers running a successful honey business. When Syria descends into chaos and violence, Sami is killed and Afra is suddenly struck with trauma-induced blindness. Still, they cling on, hoping for better times. Then the beehives are destroyed, Mustafa flees the country and Nuri is threatened by soldiers who later come to the house looking for him. 

"Our feet sank into inches of water, full of the lizards and insects that had made this space their home. I’d dug this hideout last year. Afra wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in the crook of my neck. We sat like this in the darkness, both blind now, in this grave made for two. In the deep quiet her breathing was the only sound left on earth. And maybe she was right. Maybe we should have died like this and nobody would need to take our bodies … above us and outside things moved and broke and cracked. The men must have entered the house now." 

After this, there is no choice but to leave. Nuri and Afra put themselves into the hands of people smugglers and make the perilous journey through the various camps in Europe for displaced people, heading for the UK where Mustafa has found asylum. The story of their flight is told by Nuri, mostly in flashback, while they are in temporary accommodation awaiting a decision about their future from the UK authorities.

The desperation that drives people to undertake such a terrifying journey with scant hope of success is conveyed so convincingly that, even though I knew Nuri and Afra had survived, my heart was in my mouth as Nuri recounted their experiences. Nuri is sometimes aware of hallucinations and periods of disconnection but does not connect them with trauma. He hides his symptoms from the friendly social worker, fearful that he will be dismissed as mad, desperate to keep some last shreds of dignity.

Christy Lefteri spent time as a volunteer in a refugee camp in Athens. That experience shows in the detailed, vivid story woven from what she saw and heard there; a convincing account of loss, betrayal and, ultimately, resilience. It is told with warmth and compassion and touches of gentle humour. The level of detail and the authenticity of the places and characters created makes it impossible not to be drawn in to, and moved by, Nuri and Afra’s dogged stoicism. In the face of unspeakable things, they refuse to give up hope. This book is first and foremost a compelling, page-turning novel, devoid of the strident political messages and sub texts that often infuse what we see and hear in the media about refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants. It is the first fiction I have read that truly brought home to me the lived experience of the people behind the daily headlines, and the astonishing power of the human spirit to endure and overcome.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo is published by Bonnier.

See also: The Optician of Lampedusa by Emma-Jane Kirby, reviewed by Tracy Chevalier

More reviews by Yvonne Coppard:

Flaneuse by Lauren Elkin

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan by Cynthia Jefferies

Adventures in Human Being by Gavin Francis