Jeg har lest både positive og negative anmeldelser av denne boken, noen liker den og noen liker den ikke. Jeg likte Little Bee veldig godt og synes det var en sterk historie. Jeg er nok påvirket av at vi har et asyl-mottak her vi bor og at jeg møter mange av asyl-søkerne i kirken. Vi har i tillegg hatt en jente i kirkeasyl i mange, mange år.

Den unge, nigerianske flyktningen Little Bee har tilbrakt to år i et britisk asylmottak under forferdelige forhold. Da hun kommer ut, oppsøker hun den eneste engelske personen hun kjenner, enken Sarah. De møttes på en strand i Nigeria, hvor Sarah var på ferie med ektemannen Andrew. Nå konfronteres begge med den dagen de så døden i hvitøyet, den dagen som forandret livet deres fullstendig. Romanen handler om ei ung jentes ustoppelige vilje til å skape seg et nytt liv.

Jeg slo opp Chris Cleaves kommentarer til boken og fant svar på to spørsmål jeg gjerne vil dele med deg:

Is the novel based on a true story?

No, but there’s one true story in particular that made me determined to write the novel. In 2001 an Angolan man named Manuel Bravo fled to England and claimed asylum on the grounds that he and his family would be persecuted and killed if they were returned to Angola. He lived in a state of uncertainty for four years pending a decision on his application. Then, without warning, in September 2005 Manuel Bravo and his 13-year-old son were seized in a dawn raid and interned at an Immigration Removal Centre in southern England. They were told that they would be forcibly deported to Angola the next morning. That night, Manuel Bravo took his own life by hanging himself in a stairwell. His son was awoken in his cell and told the news. What had happened was that Manuel Bravo, aware of a rule under which unaccompanied minors cannot be deported from the UK,”had taken his own life in order to save the life of his son“. Among his last words to his child were: “Be brave. Work hard. Do well at school.”

Did you have a personal reason to write the novel?

Yes, there was a chance encounter that really shook me up. Around fifteen years ago I was working as a casual labourer over the university summer vacation, and for three days I worked in the canteen of Campsfield House in Oxfordshire. It’s a detention centre for asylum seekers – a prison, if you like, full of people who haven’t committed a crime. I’d been living within ten miles of the place for three years and didn’t even know it existed. The conditions in there were very distressing. I got talking with asylum seekers who’d been through hell and were likely to be sent back to hell. Some of them were beautiful characters and it was deeply upsetting to see how we were treating them. When we imprison the innocent we make them ill, and when we deport them it’s often a death sentence. I knew I had to write about it, because it’s such a dirty secret. And I knew I had to show the unexpected humour of these refugees wherever I could, and to make the book an enjoyable and compelling read – because otherwise people’s eyes would glaze over.

Boken handler om Little Bee fra Nigeria og Sarah fra England. De møtes på en strand i Nigeria hvor Sarah og Andrew er på ferie. Andrew mister lommeboken sin på stranden og Little Bee tar vare på sertifikatet hans. Når hun da kommer seg til England og blir, på grunn av en feil (eller rettere sagt en annen jentes bestikkelser), sluppet ut av interneringsleiren oppsøker hun Andrew og Sarah. Mer en det er det vanskelig å si uten å røpe for mye.

Little Bee og Sarah forteller sin historie i alternerende kapitler og vi får vite hva som egentlig skjedde på stranden, hvordan de føler om det som skjer rundt dem og deres individuelle kamp for et bedre liv. Det er en veldig sterk historie og en historie som gjorde et sterkt inntrykk på meg. Jeg anbefaler deg absolutt å lese denne boken! Boken skal også filmatiseres av BBC films med Nicole Kidman i rollen som Sarah.