Run For Your Life
What's the story?
Azari's life has been split in two and the halves are as different as lemons and mangoes.She and her mother fled for their lives to Ireland, where they live in a bleak Direct Provision centre. They long for their own hot, vibrant country. But to go back would mean certain death.
When Azari runs she feels strong and free. But Azari has secrets — and she's still running for her life.
More info
A moving children’s book exploring Direct Provision, Ireland’s asylum-seeker accommodation system, this remarkable story is endorsed by Amnesty International (Ireland) as contributing to a better understanding of human rights and the values that underpin them.
Run For Your Life was first published in Ireland in April 2022 by Little Island Books. It is due for publication in the USA in 2023.
Suitable for readers from 11+ years.
In November 2022, Run For your Life was longlisted for the UK's 2023 Redbridge Children's Book Award. Each year in the UK, the London Borough of Redbridge Library Service runs the Children’s Book Award. The awards process starts in September and ends in June.
Reviews
'When Azari and her mother flee their country, they don’t expect to end up sharing a room with a stranger. As Azari rebuilds her life and rediscovers her love of running, the horrors of what they fled are revealed. With incredible compassion the author explains what life in direct provision is like.' (60 Children's books you should buy this Christmas, The Sunday Times - Ireland edition, 27 November 2022)
'Jane Mitchell’s Run For Your Life stands out from this year. It is a well researched and hugely empathetic novel about a teenage girl living within the direct provision system. Deft and lyrical, it is a shocking condemnation of an unjust system wrapped in an utterly compelling story.' (Best Young Adult Fiction of 2022, The Irish Times, 26 November 2022)
'Mitchell, whose past work has explored migration from Syria, child soldiers, homelessness and physical disability, is at the top of her game here. Deftly and lyrically, she moves between Azari’s past and present, slowly building tension.' (The Irish Times, 28 March 2022)
Publication Details
April 2022, Little Island Books, Ireland
ISBN: 978 1 9124 17858
Buy the Book
Order Run For Your Life directly from Little Island Books.