Little Brother

Little Brother is a beautifully haunting account of Ibrahima Balde's lengthy journey in search of his brother, one which unintentionally led to him boarding an overcrowded boat from Algeria to Italy when he found himself unable to return home to his mother and sisters. What made this book such a unique voice in the genre of migrant memoirs is Basque poet Amets Arzallus Antia's prose style which I thought Timberlake Wertenbaker has so effectively captured in this English translation. Despite Balde's words having had to pass through two other minds and languages in order to reach me, I felt as though I was really listening to him speak as I read this book.