Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility.
Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees-Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo-eventually intertwine for maximum impact. Readers will have to wait for the third book to see if the surprising outcome-Papa plans to return to Connecticut-holds, making this a refreshing, highly realistic entry in pioneer fiction. Mem comes through it all and proves an even stronger character than she seemed in the previous book, facing her work with plenty of worry, but very matter of fact about the necessity of toiling on. Tragedy all but inevitably strikes when Mama and Lily disappear into the bitterly cold countryside, where Mama dies. Papa, hoping to keep the family’s troubles private, becomes increasingly taciturn, and is angry when Mem writes her grandmother for help. Mem names the baby Lily, shoulders Mama’s chores and her own, and attempts to keep up with her studies and her dream of becoming a schoolteacher. Far worse than the crops is Mama’s mental state after giving birth to a child she doesn’t even name, she slips into homesickness and depression, and abandons all maternal and domestic responsibilities. One after another of Papa’s corn plantings turns black he’s out of seed and nearly out of resources. In the Genesee Country of western New York, where the Nyes moved from Connecticut to make a decent living farming, the planting and growing season of 1816 has been plagued by unexpected frosts. The second installment of a frontier trilogy that began with Auch’s Journey to Nowhere (1997) is the vivid story of courageous Mem Nye, who faces responsibilities that would tax a strong adult.
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