After a family secret reveals that his freedom might be in danger, the life of Shif, a 14-year-old African boy who excels at school, takes an unexpected turn.Shif needs to leave his home country (not named but probably Eritrea) to escape military service by being smuggled to Europe. But plans to escape are cut short, and he is rounded up with his best friend, Bini, to a prison where dissidents are often kept for life without trial. As the older inmates help the young boys plot an escape, Shif and Bini learn that their stories are not unique in a country where no one is allowed to criticize the government and there is always something someone could be punished for. Escaping the prison that's in the middle of the desert comes at a huge price. When Shif arrives at a town where he does not know the language, he is thirsty, hungry, dirty, and almost dead. A door opens when he meets the family of Almaz, a young girl from his country, and finds out that they are on the run too, but new forms of danger loom en route to Europe via the desert and then the sea. Shif's present-tense narration pins readers to his side throughout his ordeal. The publisher's suggested age range is 8 to 12, but the narrative feel, all-too-realistic violence, and relentless grimness of Shif's circumstances suggest an older audience.A suspenseful debut novel about the forces of greed and love that shape a refugee's fate. (Fiction. 13-18)

Shif, 14, has lived in poverty with his mother and little sister, and under the constant threat of political danger, since losing his father more than seven years earlier. Narrated in Shif-s unadorned, present-tense voice and set in a nameless country under military control, Fountain-s debut depicts the boy-s strong friendship and good-natured rivalry with neighbor Bini, with whom he shares a passion for studying and ambitions for a professional future. After the two are unexpectedly taken by soldiers and imprisoned in the desert with a group of older men, all unjustly captured by the military government, the prisoners choose the boys to escape and spread word of their detention and conditions. They do escape, but only Shif makes it across the border and into a precarious existence as a refugee. Opening with the dramatic closing scene, the book builds up to that climactic moment, eventually relieving the growing tension over Shif-s fate. The story-s grim aspects (relentless hunger and thirst, extreme temperature shifts, the guards- brutality) may overwhelm more sensitive readers, but Shif-s blunt and sympathetic voice turns today-s headlines into one compassionate and resilient boy-s experience. Ages 8-12. Agent: Allison Hellegers, Rights People, on behalf of Sarah Odedina and Adam Freudenheim, Pushkin Press. (June)