{"id":13004,"date":"2023-03-14T00:03:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T23:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13004"},"modified":"2023-03-15T00:48:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T23:48:34","slug":"13004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13004","title":{"rendered":"“The Boy with Two Hearts” by Hamed Amirii"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

OFF THE SHELF<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“The Boy with Two Hearts” by Hamed Amirii<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

There is so much press coverage around refugees and asylum seekers currently. It is interesting to read the perspective of a young boy and his family who have gone through the harrowing and often dangerous process to get to a safe country.<\/p>\n

The narrator recalls his memories of himself as a 12-year-old schoolboy and his brothers, one of whom has a serious heart complaint (this had been treated in Iran previously, but now the Taliban were in power there was no way to legally leave the country). The three boys and the parents escaped a Taliban death threat from the small village in Herat, Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

There were mixed feelings about the book and the discussion was lively. Most of the book club felt that the mother of the young boy put her family\u2019s life in danger when she spoke to parents in their local school about not allowing their daughters to be denigrated by boys and men. It was this, thought by many of us, reckless speaking out that led to a death warrant being put on the parents. We have no idea why Hamid\u2019s mother did this and it is not written about, we only have his recollections of events from Hamid himself, his parents refused to speak of it. What is clear from the book, is Hamid himself had huge respect for his mother and her actions.<\/p>\n

The book does give the reader insight into the hazardous and often extremely dangerous undertaking to get to a safe country and the reliance on dangerous traffickers to deliver them to whatever country they could. In this case it was the UK, but it seemed to be on the whim and facilities of the traffickers and often, situational opportunities. It also gives insight into how ruthless the traffickers are with little or no thought of the vulnerable people who pay dearly (with everything they own and sometimes with their lives) to get them to their destination. It took this one family, everything they owned to pay for the trip and over a year to get to a safe country and new life.<\/p>\n

The book was certainly thought provoking and insightful and made the reader think about how lucky we are to be in such a safe and, in the main, protected country where we will never need to make those decisions that Hamid\u2019s parents made. We gave this book a score 7\/8<\/p>\n

Tina Alwyn<\/p>\n

\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OFF THE SHELF “The Boy with Two Hearts” by Hamed Amirii   There is so much press coverage around refugees and asylum seekers currently. It is interesting to read the perspective of a young boy and his family who have gone through the harrowing and often dangerous process to get to a safe country. The narrator recalls his memories of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[347],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6cWjO-13004","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8854,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8854","url_meta":{"origin":13004,"position":0},"title":"My Mother\u2019s House by Lily Tobias","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th December 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF My Mother\u2019s House by Lily Tobias was written around 1930, so the style of writing is different, in so far as it is lyrical, explanatory and very vivid. The story concerns an intelligent boy who wants to break away from Judaism. The beliefs and actions of Judaism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16239,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16239","url_meta":{"origin":13004,"position":1},"title":"“Into the Storm ” by Cecelia Ahearn","author":"Alan Williams","date":"23rd October 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"Into the Storm \" by Cecelia Ahearn Cecelia Ahern is an Irish novelist, known for her works like PS, I Love You; Where Rainbows End; and If You Could See Me Now. It is a wild night in the middle of December, and GP Enya is crouched\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for November 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for November 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=427"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ShelfBookNov2025.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8061,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8061","url_meta":{"origin":13004,"position":2},"title":"Falling in Love (Death at La Fenice)","author":"Alan Williams","date":"13th August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Off The Shelf Falling in Love (Death at La Fenice) \u00a0 Falling in Love (Death at La Fenice) was this month\u2019s book written by American author Donna Leon. Leon lived in Venice for many years and has written a series of crime novels set in and around the city,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13563,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13563","url_meta":{"origin":13004,"position":3},"title":"THE PROSECUTOR by Nazir Afzal","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th September 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"The Prosecutor\" by Nazir Afzal \u00a0 Nazir Afzal knows a thing or two about justice. As a Chief Prosecutor, it was his job to make sure the most complex, violent, and harrowing crimes made it to court, and that their perpetrators were convicted. From the Rochdale sex\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9586,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9586","url_meta":{"origin":13004,"position":4},"title":"Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens This month\u2019s book was Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Two stories are entwined into the main character of Kya, who grows up in the 50s in the marshes of North Carolina. Her mother walks out on her abusive,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14234,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14234","url_meta":{"origin":13004,"position":5},"title":"“Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th May 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow\" by Gabrielle Zevin Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a novel that explores the enduring power of love and guilt. Sadie and Sam, bond over video games when the pair meet in a children\u2019s hospital; Sadie as the sibling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13004"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13004"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13067,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13004\/revisions\/13067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}