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A Memoir
by Ousman Umar
The inspiring true story of one man's treacherous boyhood journey from a rural village in Ghana to the streets of Barcelona - and the path that led him home.
Ousman Umar is a shaman's son born in a small village in Ghana. Though his mother died giving birth, he spent a contented childhood working the fields, setting traps in the jungle, and living off the land. Still, as strange and wondrous flying machines crisscrossed the skies overhead, Ousman dreamed of a different life. And so, when he was only twelve years old, he left his village and began what would be a five-year journey to Europe.
Every step of the way, as he traveled across the Sahara desert, through the daunting metropolises of Accra, Tripoli, Benghazi, and Casablanca, and over the Mediterranean Sea aboard a packed migrant dinghy, Ousman was handed off like merchandise by a loose network of smugglers and in the constant, foreboding company of "sinkers": other migrants who found themselves penniless and alone on their way north, unable to continue onward or return home.
But on a path rife with violence, exploitation, and racism, Ousman also encountered friendship, generosity, and hope. North to Paradise is a visceral true story about the stark realities of life along the most dangerous migrant route across Africa; it is also a portrait of extraordinary resilience in the face of unimaginable challenges, the beauty of kindness in strangers, and the power of giving back.
"In this astounding tale of courage and tragedy, Umar—founder of NASCO Feeding Minds, a nonprofit committed to improving the lives of Ghanaians—recounts the harrowing journey he endured immigrating to Europe from Ghana...with unerring humanity, Umar brings instances of light to his sobering tale...This is a stunning testament to the strength of the human spirit." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Both sobering and inspiring, this story about a young African man's awakening to the realities of an often uncaring world offers a compelling portrait of humanity at its ignorant worst and enlightened best. A candid and provocative memoir from a determined man." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about North to Paradise was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ousman Umar was born in Ghana and immigrated to Europe when he was seventeen. In 2012 he founded NASCO Feeding Minds, an NGO dedicated to the principle that the most effective way to prevent migrants from leaving Ghana for Europe is to provide top-notch opportunities for education and advancement in Ghana. North to Paradise was originally published by Penguin Random House Spain in 2019. Ousman lives in Barcelona.
Kevin Gerry Dunn is a Spanish-English translator whose recent projects include Countersexual Manifesto, by Paul B. Preciado, and Easy Reading, by Cristina Morales (for which he received a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant and an English PEN Award), as well as works by Daniela Tarazona, Cristian Perfumo, and Kike Arnal. He also heads the FTrMP Project, an effort to make Spanish translations of vital migration paperwork available for free online.
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