Firstly Augusta. She lives with her parents and twin sister Julia in a house in a town in England. A very ordinary house, an ordinary family, loving parents who just do not seem to get Augusta, a devoted sister to whom she is devoted. She is a bright girl, very inquiring mind - loves to read the dictionary and memorise words for example. One day going through the letter B she falls in love with the word Burundi, and on finding out it is a country in Africa becomes intrigued with learning everything she can about the country, resolving one day to go there.
Secondly Parfait. A young lad growing up in Burundi with his own loving and lovely family in a village. We all know what happened in Burundi and its neighbour Rwanda in the mid 1990s. Terrible things happen to Parfait's family, forcing him to realise he has no future there, and taking his young brother Zion he treks through Africa, ending up with hundreds of other refugees on the beaches of Spain. Then the next battle for survival begins, competing with others from all over Africa and Middle East for jobs, food, shelter.
Chapter by chapter, told in their two diverse voices, in their two different worlds, Augusta and Parfait grow up. By chance, when in her teens, Augusta and her family holiday at the beach near Saville where Parfait now lives. They don't meet but this spot leaves an indelible impression on Augusta, a place she yearns to return to in the years after, her perfect spot of paradise.
And eventually she does of course, where she and Parfait finally meet, although that also has its challenges. But this does not happen before a terrible tragedy decimates Augusta's family, forcing her to also flee much like Parfait had done. By the end of the story, these two separately find a place of peace, belonging and recovery. It is beautifully written, wonderful descriptions of Parfait's early life in Burundi before it was all destroyed, and of Mediterranean Spain - no wonder Augusta dreamed of returning.
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