Cast Away

In 2015, more than one million migrants and refugees, most fleeing war-torn countries in Africa and the Middle East, attempted to make the perilous journey into Europe. Around three thousand lost their lives as they crossed the Mediterranean and Aegean in rickety boats provided by unscrupulous traffickers, including over seven hundred men, women, and children in a single day in April 2015.

In one of the first works of narrative nonfiction on the ongoing refugee crisis and the civil war in Syria, Cast Away describes the agonizing stories and the impossible decisions that migrants have to make as they head toward what they believe is a better life: a pregnant Eritrean woman, four days overdue, chooses to board an obviously unsafe smuggler’s ship to Greece; a father, swimming from a sinking ship, has to decide whether to hold on to one child or let him go to save another.

Veteran journalist Charlotte McDonald-Gibson offers a vivid, on-the-ground glimpse of the pressures and hopes that drive individuals to risk their lives. Recalling the work of Katherine Boo and Caroline Moorehead, Cast Away brings to life the human consequences of one of the most urgent humanitarian issues of our time.

In 2015, mai mult de un milion de migranti si refugiati, cei mai multi care fug de tarile devastate de razboi din Africa si Orientul Mijlociu, au incercat sa faca calatoria periculoasa in Europa. Aproximativ trei mii si-au pierdut viata in timp ce traversau Marea Mediterana si Marea Egee in barci rahioase furnizate de traficanti fara scrupule, inclusiv peste sapte sute de barbati, femei si copii intr-o singura zi din aprilie 2015. Intr-una dintre primele lucrari de non-fictiune narativa din criza refugiatilor in curs de desfasurare si razboiul civil din Siria, Cast Away descrie povestile agonizante si deciziile imposibile pe care trebuie sa le ia migrantii in timp ce se indreapta spre ceea ce cred ca este o viata mai buna: o femeie eritreana insarcinata, cu patru zile in urma, alege sa urce nava, evident, a unui contrabandist nesigur in Grecia; un tata, care inoata de pe o nava care se scufunda, trebuie sa decida daca sa se tina de un copil sau sa-l lase sa mearga pentru a-l salva pe celalalt. Jurnalista veterana Charlotte McDonald-Gibson ofera o privire vie, la sol, a presiunilor si sperantelor care conduc indivizii sa-si riste viata.