The Boy with Two Lives

Book excerpt: When ten-year-old Abbas arrives in England to start a new life - having just fled conscription into the Iranian army and survived almost three months alone in Istanbul, Turkey, waiting for a visa - little does he know that his troubles have only just begun. Abbas's cousin packs him off to boarding school, and infrequent phone calls are his only contact with his beloved mother in Iran. Things get worse when Abbas is threatened with deportation and forced to work through the nights during his school holidays to repay his 'debt', and worse still when, at the age of thirteen, he finds himself homeless. Abbas's extraordinary resilience in the face of overpowering odds makes this story based on true events from the internationally bestselling author of On Two Feet and Wings inspiring and unforgettable.