The Lost Boy: Tales of a Boy Soldier

By Ayik Chut-Deng (Penguin)

After life as a boy soldier in South Sudan, fighting battles in Ethiopia and in refugee camps in Kenya, the author, somehow, found his way to Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia.

As a 10-year-old boy in the junior forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, he regularly fled from his unit, endured being hunted down, recaptured and the inevitable brutal punishment of his army superior – a 14-year-old boy.

One day, in a church in Australia, he sees his childhood torturer. On this first encounter they don’t speak, but their next coming together is far more dramatic and something of a portent to his trouble with the law, violence and alcohol.

Parenthood is one factor that helps with personal redemption. So does study, work as an actor and volunteering at the local Police Citizens Youth Club. The book has been described as incredibly honest.