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Book Review - The Other Hand



The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
Sceptre, $32.99

This touching story of two worlds colliding is right on the money. The lives of a British couple are changed forever when they witness something terrible on a beach in Nigeria. As is the life of Little Bee, a 14-year-old girl who arrives in the UK as an illegal immigrant to seek out the couple from the beach. A marvellously vivid character with a point of view that is both worldly and innocent, she is the principal narrator of this tale of dislocation. Cleave writes with humour and compassion, placing the tragedy of global refugees centre stage without heavy moralising. A real find.