The Last Refugee

They would not be the first or last orphans to have washed up on the shore. If there was one universal truth, it was that mothers who only had one life jacket would always put it on their child . . .

Elijah rarely gives thought to the events that led to his family fleeing the Holocaust or the ways it changed his life. Well into old age, he is content with his garden and house by the sea in Calais. All of that changes when his garden starts being pillaged each night. Eager to stop the supposed culprit, a rabbit, he stays awake one night only to find out that it’s not a rabbit at all. The truth sends his mind back to fleeing the Nazis, back to when he was a hungry, dirty child and the remarkable determination and strength it took to survive.

Meanwhile, Safia and Ahmed Bahar are doctors living in a Syria they no longer recognize. They are forced to make impossible choices to save themselves and their three young children. Finding borders closed and options limited, the family sets out on a tenuous path with terror and destruction at every turn in their quest for a safe and peaceful life.

Set during two of the largest refugee crises in history, The Last Refugee intertwines Elijah’s story with that of the Bahar family. Set across multiple decades and continents, it tells a compelling tale of two souls who couldn’t be any more different but who understand each other better than anyone else could. A story of resilience and unwavering hope.