The Girl Who Saw Lions (review)

Nine-year-old Abela is left alone with her grandmother when her father, mother, and baby sister die of AIDS in their Tanzanian village; before she has time to properly grieve, she is whisked away to London by her uncle, who has a scheme to sell her and other little African girls to rich white families as servants. In the British city of Sheffield, a young girl named Rosa is trying to cope with the fact that her single mother wants to adopt a child; she's hurt that she isn't enough for her mother, until she finds out that her mother wants a child from Tanzania, where Rosa's father originates, so that Rosa will have a sister who looks like her. Tired of being trapped in their flat by the woman her uncle married in an attempt to secure citizenship, Abela goes to school, where her plight draws the attention of social services and eventually leads her to foster care and then a permanent home with Rosa and her mother. By alternating perspectives between the two girls and also alternating point of view within their stories, Doherty is able to effectively draw out the emotion-laden nuances of the traumatized and grieving Abela and the relatively more privileged Rosa. Rosa is mildly and understandably selfish as the only child of a loving mother and doting grandparents; her changing reactions to her mother's plan are completely reasonable, and her reluctant acceptance of an adoptive sibling is credibly portrayed. Abela's journey is of course far more harrowing, and her stoic resilience will no doubt have the desired impact of inspiring compassion for AIDS orphans and illegal child immigrants. Elements such as the commonality of African refugees and the issue of asylum seekers mark this as British, but American readers will also find themselves deeply invested in both girls' stories.