Malini

A moving story of one child's life in the conflict zone of Sri Lanka.

Malini lives with her parents and young sister, Banni, in northern Sri Lanka. As the civil war heads towards its catastrophic end, Malini and her family are herded by Tamil Tiger troops towards the coast where they will act as human shields, along with thousands of other Tamil civilians. When Malini's father pushes a mobile phone into her hands and tells her to run off into the forest with Banni, Malini does as she is told. But then the shelling begins, and Malini has no way of finding her mother and father.

With the role of parent thrust upon her, Malini has no choice but to travel to her grandfather's village a long way inland. She and Banni will need to keep off the highways and stay alert for soldiers from all sides. But where will the next meal come from? Who can they trust? Where will they shelter? And will they ever be reunited with their parents again?

The uplifting story of one girl's odyssey through war-torn Sri Lanka.

About the Author

Robert Hillman is a Melbourne-based writer of fiction and biography. His autobiography, The Boy in the Green Suit, won the Australian National Biography Award for 2005. His 2007 biography, My Life as a Traitor, written with Zarah Ghahramani, appeared in numerous overseas editions and was short-listed for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards in 2008. His first collaboration with Najaf Mazari, The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif, grew out of an abiding interest in the hardships and triumphs of refugees. His second collaboration with Najaf, 2011's The Honey Thief, is a collection of spellbinding tales that reveal the rich storytelling traditions of Afghanistan. His biography of blind indigenous musician Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Gurrumul: His Life and Music, was published in 2013, and a new novel, Joyful, came out in April 2014.

Series editor Lyn White has been a primary school teacher-librarian and EAL teacher for more than twenty years and recently completed postgraduate studies in Editing and Communications at the University of Melbourne. Lyn is passionate about children's literature, committed to developing life-long reading habits in children, and has great expertise in engaging students with quality texts and teachers with quality resources. Her work with refugee and migrant children motivated her to create a series that spoke of their experiences, and led to the Through My Eyes series.