A House Without Walls

Thirteen-year-old Safiya and her family have been driven out of Syria by civil war. Safiya knows how lucky she is--lucky not to be living in a refugee camp, lucky to be alive. But it's hard to feel grateful when she's forced to look after her father and brother rather than go back to school, and now that she's lost her home, she's lonelier than ever.

As they struggle to rebuild their lives, Safiya realizes that her family has always been incomplete and with her own future in the balance, it's time to uncover the secrets that war has kept buried.

Here are some basic facts about me: My name is Safiya and I'm twelve years old. I'm a Syrian from Damascus. I'm a refugee, but I hate that word! I'm a girl. Perhaps I should also mention that my teeth stick out a bit. So far, that's nothing special.

I mean, there are loads of other people like me (maybe with nicer teeth). So here are some slightly more interesting things you might like to know: We had to escape in a hurry from Syria (more about that later) and came to Jordan, the country next door.

That's where we live now. At least they speak Arabic in Jordan, so I didn't have to learn a new language. I've got a twin called Saba, but I've never even met her! Well, we must have met inside our mother but we were separated when we were a few weeks old.