Phoenix Brothers

Sita Brahmachari is a novelist for middle grade and older young readers, and a first class, deeply thoughtful and accurate writer of which Phoenix Brothers is outstanding.

Through the first twenty-three short chapters we read how Amir, a refugee from Iraq, now lives in a hostel in England but hopes to be able to live with other refugees who have a home and a family. We learn the different worries the young people have, concerns about the places and family members and friends they have left in order to escape from the famine, the terror and the loss of their homes.

In those first short chapters, Amir determines to understand and learn how he can make the most of his new life. Others in the school have their own concerns and sometimes lose the ability to understand and undertake the way forwards.

The final four chapters find Amir with his teacher having lent him books and thereby Amir discovering that he has started to read and enjoy those of George Orwell. This helps Amir to understand how this will give him the knowledge and understanding to move forward in the different life he has found.

Originally a short prequel novello was published in a variety of anthologies and short stories, but readers were insisting that they would want more about Amir and the journey he took to get to England, and so Phoenix Brothers was written. 

Brahmachari has offered readers an utterly fascinating and deeply moving story which has very carefully been written for readers who may well have had similar experiences. The book has information on the author, an exceptionally helpful background to the novel and ideas for readers to consider what to read next. In addition, there are questions and a word list for unusual or less known words for the readers. This is an astonishing powerful, thoughtful and deeply moving novel.