Makis and his moher Sofia escape a devastating Greek earthquake which has claimed his father's life. North London is a ver different place - but Makis quickly wins a covetted place in the school football team. Unlike her son, Sofia, isolated by her grief and lack of English, sinks into depression. Makis has a brilliant idea to help her - using books from school he begins to teach her to read. But competing loyalites mean that sooner or later, something has to give ... and his hard-won reputation at school appears to be in ruins. “Bernard Ashley’s great gift is to turn what seems to be low-key realism into something much stronger and more resonant. It has something to do with empathy, compassion, an undimmed thirst for decency and justice.” Phillip Pullman
