'Our government jailed his body, but his soul remained that of a free man.' Richard Flanagan
In 2013, Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani was illegally and indefinitely detained on Manus Island.
This book is the result. Written on a smuggled mobile phone and translated from Farsi, it is a voice of witness, an act of survival. A lyric first-hand account. A cry of resistance. A vivid portrait through six years of incarceration and exile that - against all the odds - became an award-winning national bestseller.
WINNER OF THE VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY PRIZE FOR LITERATURE, AND THE PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2019
WINNER OF THE NSW PREMIER'S AWARD 2019
WINNER OF THE ABIA GENERAL NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY AWARD 2019
INAUGURAL WINNER OF THE BEHROUZ BOOCHANI AWARD FOR SERVICES TO ANTHROPOLOGY
FINALIST FOR THE TERZANI PRIZE 2020
LONGLISTED FOR THE COLIN RODERICK LITERARY AWARD 2019
PRAISE FOR NO FRIEND BUT THE MOUNTAINS
'Bears lucid, poetic and devastating witness to the insane barbarity enacted in our name.' Michelle de Kretser
'A poetic, yet harrowing read, and every Australian household should have a copy.' Maxine Beneba Clarke
'A powerful account ... made me feel ashamed and outraged. Behrouz's writing is lyrical and poetic, though the horrors he describes are unspeakable.' Sofie Laguna
'A shattering book every Australian should read.' Benjamin Law
'A magnificent writer. To understand the true nature of what it is that we have done, every Australian, beginning with the prime minister, should read Behrouz Boochani's intense, lyrical and psychologically perceptive prose-poetry masterpiece.' The Age
'An essential historical document.' The Australian
