No Safe Place by Deborah Ellis 205 pages

Four desperate young adults meet on a dilapidated boat trying to escape their pasts and find freedom in England. Their past stories are interwoven and each is sadder than the last. Abdul is leaving the memories of the deaths of his family in Baghdad. Rosalia, a Romani girl, was sentenced to become a white-slave prostitute. Cheslav, a brilliant musician, was tortured in Russian military schools. Ellis uses her novels to open the eyes of Western children and meet the impoverished youth struggling to survive in faraway countries. Sad, but hopeful.