A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea

Written by Melissa Fleming, the chief spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, this is the deeply personal and heart-searing tale of a young Syrian, Doaa al Zamel. In 2011, as a teenager, she demonstrates against her country’s government. She ends up fleeing to Egypt, where she works in a factory hoping to get to Europe. In 2014, she is pulled from the Mediterranean, with two small children hanging on to her. She has been afloat for four days, after the boat smuggling her and others to Europe, sinks, killing five hundred other passengers, including Ms. al Zamel’s fiancé. There is a level of urgency in this narrative, which speaks to all of humanity:  Ms. al Zamel is now safe in Sweden, but still the author accurately wonders why there is no massive resettlement for the Syrians – who are the victims of the worst war of the 21st century.