Part love story, part journalistic memoir from Matthieu Aikins, The Naked Don’t Fear The Water is a powerful, moving study of the physical and psychological borders that divide us, and the lengths that people in need are willing to go to cross them.
In 2016, a young Afghan driver and translator, Omar, decided to try to escape his native Afghanistan and search for freedom in Europe. Aikins, a young and free-spirited journalist, agreed to accompany him and document the journey.
We follow the pair as they travel the treacherous underground refugee trail, crossing land and sea into Europe. Through Omar’s story, as well as the stories of the other refugees they travel with and their families back home, Aikins captures the desperation that drives people to flee their countries to try to create better lives for themselves. Written with deep understanding and empathy, he uses his friend’s story to convey the story of thousands. He writes with an Orwell-like clarity, and like Orwell, is happy to get his hands dirty to get to the truth of his subject. In doing so, The Naked Don’t Fear The Water is a work of great empathy and humanity: a must-read for anyone looking to understand our increasingly fractured age.
The Naked Don’t Fear The Water, Matthieu Aikins (Fitzcarraldo)
Price: £12.99. Info: here
words JOSHUA REES
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