The Lost Boy - by Aher Arop Bol (Paperback)

About the Book

A staggering true story of survival, resilience, and hope - one boy's 4,000-mile journey across war-torn Africa to build a new life.

Book Synopsis

A staggering true story of survival, resilience, and hope - one boy's 4,000-mile journey across war-torn Africa to build a new life.

By the age of 18, Aher Arop Bol had survived war, famine, and displacement. Lost Boy recounts his extraordinary escape from a Sudanese village torn apart by conflict to a makeshift stall under a railway bridge in Pretoria, where he sold sweets to fund his law studies.

Written with raw honesty and quiet strength, this memoir offers a rare, firsthand account of the desperate experience of refugee children of Sudan. A testament to resilience and hope, Lost Boy is a vital contribution to African literature and a voice for the voiceless.

Discover more from the APOLLO AFRICA series: the new home for 100 timeless works from the legendary Heinemann African Writers Series.

Review Quotes

"This story stays with me." --Antjie Krog, writer and poet

"An extraordinary tale of pain, desperation and, above all, survival against all odds." --Drum Magazine

"Never before has the desolate, desperate experience of the refugee children of Sudan been so authoritatively conveyed." --Guardian

About the Author

Aher Arop Bol was born in a Dinka village in the Bahr el Ghazal region of southern Sudan. Separated from his parents at the age of three, he was one of 20,000 boys who were displaced or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War. He survived a 4,000-mile journey across eight African countries, living in refugee camps and relying on the kindness of strangers. His memoir, Lost Boy, offers a rare and powerful account of the refugee experience.