Phoenix Brothers by Sita Brahmachari
Aug. 30th, 2025 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
School. Home. Life. Everything has changed for Amir and Mo since they arrived in the UK as refugees. The two close friends are navigating their new lives as best they can: navigating their new lessons, using new languages.
But when Amir suddenly finds himself in hospital, he starts to read. Through the books, he finds an inspiring, unexpected voice to guide him. Will this help Amir and Mo to finally find their voice and come to terms with their past?
13-year-old Amir Karoon arrived in the United Kingdom a year ago the back of a refrigeration lorry with his best friend Mo, who is like a brother to him. Amir is a refugee from Iraq, whose entire family were killed when he was at school. He now lives with Kabir and Mirsa, two other refugees who looked after him when they met in a camp in France but Mo lives in a hostel.
Amir worries about Mo, worries about how angry he is, the other boys he sometimes hangs around with and how he only seems to calm down when he runs. Amir still struggles with English and tends to stay quiet in class, but he’s becoming friends with Nila, who tries to support both Amir and Mo, even though Mo is pretty unpleasant to her all the time.
Amir’s health was badly affected by his time on the freezer lorry and when he comes down with pneumonia before Christmas, it’s serious enough to put him in hospital. His English teacher, Mr Shaw brings him some books by George Orwell and Amir finds himself inspired to enter a public speaking competition to respond to Orwell’s quote: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
For the first time Amir feels ready to find his voice and speak his truth, for himself and for Mo, to help both of them come to terms with what has happened to them.
Sita Brahmachari’s contemporary novella for readers aged 11+ is part of a collection specifically aimed at readers with dyslexia and those lacking in confidence. It’s a very sensitive, empathic look at friendship, what it means to be a refugee and the terrible experiences that those who have been displaced endure in their journey to the UK that is all the more important given the current political climate.
I picked this up because I had read and enjoyed Brahmachari’s debut novel ARTICHOKE HEARTS, which won the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize so already knew that she is capable of combining beautiful writing with warmth and sensitivity.
This book is a prequel to a short story entitled ‘Amir and George’ that appeared in I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS and was re-published in A COUNTRY TO CALL HOME edited by Lucy Propescu, which has been re-worked as the final chapter to this book. I had not read the short story (although I am now interested in checking it out).
Told from Amir’s point of view, I very much admired how she builds up the friendship and history between Amir and Mo and, in particular, the loyalty they feel to each other due to their experiences. At the same time, she shows how those same experiences have affected them - Mo, who has been treated as a grown up and placed in a hostel with older boys and men and he is angry and traumatised, pushing away offers of help and assistance. Amir, in turn, feels guilty because Kabir and Mirsa have fostered him but could not take Mo in, which is why he agrees to accompany him on the running track because even though his own health is bad, he knows it is the only way for Mo to process what has happened to him.
I also enjoyed the role that Nila has in the book. The daughter of a refugee both Nila and her mother are keen to be of help to the community and she continually tries to reach out to both Amir and Mo as a friend, not taking it personally when Mo lashes out at her. Brahmachari uses her to show how assimilation is achieved between generations and also the sense of community and support that exists for immigrants and refugees. She too has a story to tell in the competition about being a refugee and it is just as powerful as Amir’s.
I was less convinced by the relationship between Mr Shaw and Amir but I think this is more to do with the fact that this is a novella and therefore there are fewer pages to draw out all the elements. That’s a shame because what’s there is interesting with Brahmachari drawing parallels between Shaw and Orwell as Shaw mentions that he went to Eton and is portrayed as sharing Orwell’s attitude towards privilege. One of the interesting things in the book is how Shaw goes into bat for Amir when the headmistress Mrs Mehta does not and I also wished that a little more had been made of that (but again, that is to do with the fact that this is a novella rather than any failing on the part of Brahmachari’s skills).
Prejudice is a low level theme throughout the book, sometimes flaring up but often in the background. The one bum note is during the final chapters with the competition where a rival speaker is a little too much of a caricature, which is not to say that it doesn’t exist but it does jar in what is otherwise a sophisticated portrayal.
The main thread of the story is Amir working out how to tell his story, finding the words to do so and coming to terms with the fact that his story is wrapped up with those of Mo, Kabir and Mirsa (who lost a baby during the journey). I genuinely thought that this was a superb piece of writing done with a great deal of sensitivity as she weaves in the story of what happened to him in Iraq and his journey to the UK.
The language used in the book is well judged and the way that Amir struggles to learn new words is one that target readers will likely empathise with and there is a list of other books dealing with similar subjects in the back, together with a glossary of words used and the background to the novel.
All in all it’s another great Brahmachari and a reminder that I should check out more of her work.
The Verdict:
Sita Brahmachari’s contemporary novella for readers aged 11+ is part of a collection specifically aimed at readers with dyslexia and those lacking in confidence. It’s a very sensitive, empathic look at friendship, what it means to be a refugee and the terrible experiences that those who have been displaced endure in their journey to the UK that is all the more important given the current political climate.
PHOENIX BROTHERS was released in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2025. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
School. Home. Life. Everything has changed for Amir and Mo since they arrived in the UK as refugees. The two close friends are navigating their new lives as best they can: navigating their new lessons, using new languages.
But when Amir suddenly finds himself in hospital, he starts to read. Through the books, he finds an inspiring, unexpected voice to guide him. Will this help Amir and Mo to finally find their voice and come to terms with their past?
13-year-old Amir Karoon arrived in the United Kingdom a year ago the back of a refrigeration lorry with his best friend Mo, who is like a brother to him. Amir is a refugee from Iraq, whose entire family were killed when he was at school. He now lives with Kabir and Mirsa, two other refugees who looked after him when they met in a camp in France but Mo lives in a hostel.
Amir worries about Mo, worries about how angry he is, the other boys he sometimes hangs around with and how he only seems to calm down when he runs. Amir still struggles with English and tends to stay quiet in class, but he’s becoming friends with Nila, who tries to support both Amir and Mo, even though Mo is pretty unpleasant to her all the time.
Amir’s health was badly affected by his time on the freezer lorry and when he comes down with pneumonia before Christmas, it’s serious enough to put him in hospital. His English teacher, Mr Shaw brings him some books by George Orwell and Amir finds himself inspired to enter a public speaking competition to respond to Orwell’s quote: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
For the first time Amir feels ready to find his voice and speak his truth, for himself and for Mo, to help both of them come to terms with what has happened to them.
Sita Brahmachari’s contemporary novella for readers aged 11+ is part of a collection specifically aimed at readers with dyslexia and those lacking in confidence. It’s a very sensitive, empathic look at friendship, what it means to be a refugee and the terrible experiences that those who have been displaced endure in their journey to the UK that is all the more important given the current political climate.
I picked this up because I had read and enjoyed Brahmachari’s debut novel ARTICHOKE HEARTS, which won the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize so already knew that she is capable of combining beautiful writing with warmth and sensitivity.
This book is a prequel to a short story entitled ‘Amir and George’ that appeared in I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS and was re-published in A COUNTRY TO CALL HOME edited by Lucy Propescu, which has been re-worked as the final chapter to this book. I had not read the short story (although I am now interested in checking it out).
Told from Amir’s point of view, I very much admired how she builds up the friendship and history between Amir and Mo and, in particular, the loyalty they feel to each other due to their experiences. At the same time, she shows how those same experiences have affected them - Mo, who has been treated as a grown up and placed in a hostel with older boys and men and he is angry and traumatised, pushing away offers of help and assistance. Amir, in turn, feels guilty because Kabir and Mirsa have fostered him but could not take Mo in, which is why he agrees to accompany him on the running track because even though his own health is bad, he knows it is the only way for Mo to process what has happened to him.
I also enjoyed the role that Nila has in the book. The daughter of a refugee both Nila and her mother are keen to be of help to the community and she continually tries to reach out to both Amir and Mo as a friend, not taking it personally when Mo lashes out at her. Brahmachari uses her to show how assimilation is achieved between generations and also the sense of community and support that exists for immigrants and refugees. She too has a story to tell in the competition about being a refugee and it is just as powerful as Amir’s.
I was less convinced by the relationship between Mr Shaw and Amir but I think this is more to do with the fact that this is a novella and therefore there are fewer pages to draw out all the elements. That’s a shame because what’s there is interesting with Brahmachari drawing parallels between Shaw and Orwell as Shaw mentions that he went to Eton and is portrayed as sharing Orwell’s attitude towards privilege. One of the interesting things in the book is how Shaw goes into bat for Amir when the headmistress Mrs Mehta does not and I also wished that a little more had been made of that (but again, that is to do with the fact that this is a novella rather than any failing on the part of Brahmachari’s skills).
Prejudice is a low level theme throughout the book, sometimes flaring up but often in the background. The one bum note is during the final chapters with the competition where a rival speaker is a little too much of a caricature, which is not to say that it doesn’t exist but it does jar in what is otherwise a sophisticated portrayal.
The main thread of the story is Amir working out how to tell his story, finding the words to do so and coming to terms with the fact that his story is wrapped up with those of Mo, Kabir and Mirsa (who lost a baby during the journey). I genuinely thought that this was a superb piece of writing done with a great deal of sensitivity as she weaves in the story of what happened to him in Iraq and his journey to the UK.
The language used in the book is well judged and the way that Amir struggles to learn new words is one that target readers will likely empathise with and there is a list of other books dealing with similar subjects in the back, together with a glossary of words used and the background to the novel.
All in all it’s another great Brahmachari and a reminder that I should check out more of her work.
The Verdict:
Sita Brahmachari’s contemporary novella for readers aged 11+ is part of a collection specifically aimed at readers with dyslexia and those lacking in confidence. It’s a very sensitive, empathic look at friendship, what it means to be a refugee and the terrible experiences that those who have been displaced endure in their journey to the UK that is all the more important given the current political climate.
PHOENIX BROTHERS was released in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2025. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
