Grennan quit his day job in a rash decision and spends all of his savings on a year long trip around the world. Afraid his friends would think him indulgent, he starts his trip with a stint of volunteering in an orphanage in Nepal.
What he didn't know, was that volunteering there would change the course of his life. After the three months was up he did something no volunteer ever did: he promised the kids he would come back. He had fallen in love with the kids and their plight and wanted to help them more and so he did. After his year trip around the world he came back to the orphanage.
This is where the story really begins. He finds out one of the most extraordinary things about these kids in the orphanage. They aren't really orphans! The sad but true story is that their peasant parents had been conned into paying exorbitant amounts of money to have them taken to Kathmandu where they thought they would be given a good education and taken care of. Instead, the man they gave their entire wealth too was a trafficker in children and he took them to Kathmandu to prey on tourists. Eventually they were taken from this man and placed in the orphanage, but because the man had threatened the children with beatings if they ever spoke of their parents, everyone thought they were orphans.
Here lies the adventure. Grennan decides to fund a trip to the outer-reaches of Nepal where the children are from - a region called Humla. He is going to find the parents of the children and let them know they are still alive since it has been more than 5 years for most of the children since they have seen or talked to their parents. Despite a debilitating knee injury he develops on the journey and a shaky peace treaty with the Maoist rebel regime he finds all of the villages the children came from and meets with the parents.
You may think I have told you a lot about the book and are wondering what there is left to read, but believe me there are so many twists and turns left in this book to read! I have left out all of the undeniably good parts and have only related enough (I hope) to get you to read this book. It is truly a book where you cheer for the people in the book from one cover to the other.
If you are interested in finding out more about the book, the author or the non-profit organization he started to help the lost children of Nepal, you can go here. Also, note that if you buy this book, a portion of the proceeds goes to supporting his non profit organization Next Generation Nepal.
Rating: 10 / 10
ISBN: 9780061930058
Publisher: William Morrow
Year Published: 2010
Edition: 1st Edition