Book Review: Mahtab's Story

While images of refugees arriving in Australia are familiar to many, the background of these displaced and homeless individuals is rarely part of the story that makes the headlines. It can be difficult, particularly for younger people with less awareness of some of the more troubled areas of the world, to understand what some people sacrifice for a chance to experience the freedom that is so much a part of the Australian culture.

In Mahtab’s Story, Libby Gleeson has created a very real and appealing heroine to offer young teen readers insight into the kind of fear and persecution that motivates individuals and families to leave everything they own to undertake the perilous and uncertain journey towards foreign shores and the ideal of freedom.

Plot Summary: Mahtab’s Story

Mahtab is part of a well-educated, secure loving family living in Herat in Afghanistan. She has fond memories of listening to her grandfather read traditional stories and sharing special customs and routines with her parents, younger brother and sister and extended family.

Her dreams of becoming a doctor like her Grandmother’s sister are crushed by the arrival in Herat of the Taliban. Mahtab’s family becomes increasingly fearful for their safety with threats and attacks against them until they finally decide, after the disappearance of her grandfather, to leave everything behind and travel to Australia where they have heard that everyone has the freedom to live as they choose.

Leaving behind the comfort of their family home, their extended family and all but the most basic provisions of clothing, Mahtab and her family make the perilous journey to Pakistan. There it is decided that her father will travel ahead and send for them when he reaches safety, but after many months with no contact, Mahtab’s mother decides to follow her husband to Australia.

At each stage of their journey, the family faces seemingly impossible choices and challenges, but their determination eventually brings them to Australia. There they find not the open welcome and understanding they expect, but instead are sent to a detention centre where they face ongoing uncertainty and the frightening reality that they may be returned to Afghanistan.

Introducing Young Readers to the Experiences of Refugees

Mahtab’s Story highlights the fear and desperation that forces many refugees to leave their homeland with nothing more than the belief that they will find a safer, more secure life in a distant country. The beauty of the culture that Mahtab and her family are forced to leave may be a revelation to some who have not thought beyond the images of desperate and distraught refugees and warzones.

Readers will warm to Mahtab, a brave and inspiring character who also manages to be very authentic and likeable. Their desire to see Mahtab safe and reunited with her father will keep them turning pages, while the ‘real’ faces put to generally nameless refugees will encourage them to think more deeply about the issues the story explores.

Australian Author Libby Gleeson

Libby Gleeson is a well-known and loved Australian author who has written more than 30 books for children and teenagers. With several literary award nominations and prizes for her previous works, her significant contribution to children’s literature in Australia was acknowledged in 2007 when she was made a member of the Order of Australia for her services to literature and literacy education.

An Inspiring and Thought-Provoking Story

With the plight of refugees in and out of the headlines in Australia, particularly in recent years, Mahtab’s Story is a timely introduction to this complex social issue for readers in late primary school and early high school. Teachers' notes are available at the Allen & Unwin website.

Mahtab’s Story (Allen & Unwin, 2008) is available from good booksellers for a RRP of A$15.95

Mahtab's Story by Libby Gleeson

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