Eleven-year-old Salva is forced to flee on foot when his village comes under attack. Braving every imaginable hardship - including killer lions and hungry crocodiles - he is one of the 'lost boys' travelling the African continent on foot in search of his family and a safe place to stay.

Nya goes to the pond two times a day to fetch water. It takes her eight hours. But there is unexpected hope, as these two stories set in Sudan - one unfolding in 2008 and one in 1985 - go on to intersect with Nya's in an astonishing and moving way.