First published in The Phoenix, collected by David Fickling Books, No Country by Joe Brady and Patrice Aggs was released as a collection in 2021. Its sequel, No Refuge, is out this week, the setting a civil war torn Britain where both sides already appear to have forgotten why they were fighting, but fight anyway, prompting people to try to escape them all.
In No Country, which won the Big Book Award 2022, we were introduced to Bea and her family, who are trying to live as if everything is normal. She and her sister Hannah look out for one another, at home and in school.
But their country is starting to fall apart. A civil war is raging, and it’s getting closer. Bea is desperate not to leave home, but how long will it be before they have to run?
In No Refuge, which picks up the tale straight after events in No Country, the reader is asked: what would you do if you were forced to leave everything behind?
Sisters Bea and Hannah, and their baby brother Dom, have fled the war that forced them from home. Their dad’s instructions were clear: follow the plan and I’ll find you.
But trying to survive on the run without food or shelter takes everything they’ve got, and the sisters’ promise to always look after one another is pushed to breaking point.
With soldiers on both sides closing in and Dom getting weaker every day, will they be able to escape to safety?
The story across the two volumes cleverly sidesteps why and exactly whose politics has destroyed society, in favour of focusing on those caught up in the consequences, desperate to survive. People, in fact, just like you and me, trying to make sense of what is going on around us, some forced to flee for their lives as one side or the other tries to dominate their lives and thoughts.
It’s an engrossing, clever take on what genuine refugees are escaping in the real world, and, in my own view, up there with novels like Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo (now also a stage play), which humanise those facing adversity – which, those seeking to exploit their situation, left or right, generally don’t, or much of our media.
I received a copy of No Refuge for review just recently and actually read that before tracking down a copy of No Country. But Joe and Patrice are clever storytellers and it didn’t actually matter, In fact, you could argue you can read No Refuge without reading No Country, the past already shrouded in mystery and remoulded by both sides propaganda. It gave an uncertain edge to reading the tale, for me, but reading this adventure, aimed at 9 – 11 year-olds, was none the worse for it.
The books are a challenging but an enjoyable and rewarding read, and certainly make you think about how we might react to having our homes bombed, or friends rounded up because of who they are or what they think.
Highly recommended. Both books are available from any good bookshop. It’s heartening to hear the first gained such a positive response from its target audience, who voted for it in the Big Book Award in 2022. Let’s hope No Refuge gains similar, deserved plaudits.
John Freeman
• No Country by Joe Brady and Patrice Aggs | ISBN: 978-0486461786 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link | uk bookshop.org Affiliate Link
• No Refuge by Joe Brady and Patrice Aggs | ISBN: 978-1788451192 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link | uk bookshop.org Affiliate Link
Oxford-based Joe Brady, who hails from California, is the editor of the ground-breaking, critically acclaimed The Phoenix story comic. He is the writer of comic stories Izzy Newton: Kid Billionaire and Claire: Justice Ninja as well as No Country.
Patrice Aggs has illustrated more than 50 children’s books (including books by Philip Pullman and Malorie Blackman), worked in pre-computer animation (including The Snowman at TVC), and contributed to art collections in Europe, the USA and Japan. She was born in Michigan and studied at St John’s College, Annapolis and City & Guilds Art School, London.
No Country won the Big Book Award 2022 and Joe Brady made an impassioned speech which paid tribute to the young people who channelled their empathetic feelings about migration, freedom, invasion to vote for the book. Click here to watch.
Also Recommended…
In the same vein, you may also want to check out titles such as the brilliant graphic novel, ILLEGAL by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin and Giovanni Rigano (reviewed by John Freeman here in 2018); the illustrated book, the award-winning Boy, Everywhere by A. M. Dassu, illustrated by Zainab ‘Daby’ Faidhi; and No Man’s Land by Joanna Nadin; and Mayowa and the Sea of Words by Chibundu Onuzo, published by Bloomsbury earlier this year, a Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Reviews
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