This Is Where I Am

When recently widowed Deborah Maxwell is assigned by the Scottish Refugee Council to act as mentor to Abdi Hassan, a Somali refugee, the two are drawn into an awkward friendship. They must spend a year together, meeting once a month in different parts of Glasgow. As recently-widowed Deborah opens Abdi’s eyes to her beloved city and its people, he teaches her about the importance of family – and of laying your ghosts to rest. All Abdi has brought with him is his four-year-old daughter, Rebecca, who lives in a silence no one can reach. Until, one day, she starts talking. And they discover why she had stopped…

Reviews of This Is Where I Am

So it's surprising that this story of tentative friendship is also an unexpectedly humorous affair … Generous-spirited, big-hearted depiction of life behind the statistics * Daily Mail * A story of tragedy told with such eloquence and elegance as to renew our faith in the resilience of the human spirit * Kerry Young, author of Pao * This was the best novel I read on holiday … A brilliant story, beautifully told by Campbell * Alistair Campbell, Metro * The writing is bold, gritty and fearless * The Sunday Times * One of the most powerful novels I've read in a long time. Unvarnished and without sentimentality, This Is Where I Am forces us to reassess our notion of the refugee in the modern world. Like all great survival stories, Abdi Hassan's is dogged by horror and grotesque ill-fate; yet it is Abdi's quiet courage and dignity that endures in the memory long after the final page. Think you have a social conscience? Read this, weep and think again * Helen Walsh, author of Brass * This Is Where I Am is subtle, compassionate and completely gripping. It's the best kind of page-turner, one where you race through to the end because you can't bear to abandon the characters. Wonderful * Shelley Harris, author of Jubilee * Fans of The Other Hand will enjoy this heartbreaking yet uplifting tale which solves the heartbreaking mystery * Bookseller *