![]() ![]() He was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, moved to Canada as a teenager and now lives in the United States. Omar El Akkad is an author and journalist. ![]() But it is also a story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair-and about the way each of those things can blind us to reality. What Strange Paradise is the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir's life and how he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make their way toward safety. And though Vanna and Amir are complete strangers, though they don't speak a common language, Vanna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy. Vanna is a teenage girl, who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. ![]() But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vanna. Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. ![]()
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