Horrors of migrant life

Aryan, 14, and his brother Kabir, 10, are Afghan war orphans “in flight over rugged lands”. With their hopes hardening to blisters, and their blisters hardening to calluses, all that keeps them going is the promise of sanctuary in England.

However, the Europe of which the boys have dreamt is never where they find themselves. In place of grand capitals and endless opportunity, these displaced children drift through homeless shelters or sleep rough in public parks. Cities pass for them “like stepping stones across the map” but, instead of gauging distance by miles, they mark their progress by border guards and checkpoints. Hinterland follows them through a gauntlet of hostage-takers and small-town profiteers, with the constant fear of being apprehended staining every page like the cold sweat of the dispossessed.