There are also some fairly stark descriptions of the situation that the refugees have left behind via the news stories that Fred sees, and the disintegrating situation that they face in Australia. It doesn’t shy away from details like the young girls in the centre asking to have their hair cut short to look more like boys for their own safety, even if Fred doesn’t understand the implications. The book deals with the harsh politics of the refugee centre that was established at Sorrento, and the lives of the refugees there. I admit that in 2020, when the world feels so heavy, I found it hard to read a book that deals with some of the things that Fred experiences even as sensitively as The Year the Maps Changed, and I would advise caution with some young readers. It’s 1999, and a group of Kosovar-Albanian refugees have been brought to a government ‘safe haven’ just outside of Sorrento. Through Fred’s eyes, we see the political manoeuvring on the news, the lines that get drawn in the community, and the refugees themselves and the issues that they face. In Sorrento, Victoria, where Fred lives things are changing too. Things are changing fast, and Fred isn’t sure how to handle it all. Fred’s mother died when she was six and she’s always seen her step-father Luca as her dad, but now she has to share him and her house with his girlfriend Anika, and Anika’s son Sam.
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