Kiss the Dust

Kiss the Dust is a powerful historical fiction novel that follows 13-year-old Tara Hawrami, a Kurdish girl, whose life is upended by the conflict between Iraqi Kurds and Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1980s. The story vividly portrays her family's dangerous escape from Iraq, their struggles in a brutal refugee camp in Iran, and their eventual attempt to build a new life in London. It explores profound themes of family loyalty, courage, resilience, and the challenges of cultural adaptation, offering a poignant and realistic look at the refugee experience through a child's eyes. Parents should be aware of the serious themes of war, displacement, and peril, which are handled with sensitivity but without shying away from the harsh realities.

Her father's involvement with the Kurdish resistance movement in Iraq forces thirteen-year-old Tara to flee with her family over the border into Iran, where they face an unknown future.