After years of state-sanctioned discrimination some of the minority Tamil population had formed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to win a separate Tamil state in the northeast.
Malini is 14 and attends high school, where her father is the principal. Her dream is to go to university to study mathematics.
One day the whole town is woken at dawn by Tamil soldiers and assembled in the square. They are told they are to walk to a much smaller village about 30km north, but are not told they are to be human shields for the fighters.
On the way Malini and her young sister escape and begin a dangerous trek to their grandfather's home, about 60km away.
As well as being good reads these books give an understanding of others' lives.
Ages 13+.
- Rene Nol
