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Map of Hope and Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece
The stories of refugees who fled violence or persecution only to become trapped in the worst refugee camps in Europe.
Helen Benedict, award-winning British-American professor of journalism at Columbia University, teams up with Syrian writer and refugee, Eyad Awwadawnan, to present the stories of five refugees who have endured long and dangerous journeys from the Middle East and Africa to Greece.
Hasan, Asmahan, Evans, Mursal and Calvin each tell their story, tracing the trajectory of their lives from homes and families in Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Cameroon to the brutal refugee camps, where they are trapped in a strange and hostile world.
These are compelling, first-person stories of resilience, suffering and hope, told in a depth rarely seen in non-fiction, partly because one of the authors is a refugee himself, and partly because both authors spent years getting to know the interviewees and winning their trust. The women and men in this book tell their stories in their own words, retaining control and dignity, while revealing intimate and heartfelt scenes from their lives.
Helen Benedict, award-winning British-American professor of journalism at Columbia University, teams up with Syrian writer and refugee, Eyad Awwadawnan, to present the stories of five refugees who have endured long and dangerous journeys from the Middle East and Africa to Greece.
Hasan, Asmahan, Evans, Mursal and Calvin each tell their story, tracing the trajectory of their lives from homes and families in Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Cameroon to the brutal refugee camps, where they are trapped in a strange and hostile world.
These are compelling, first-person stories of resilience, suffering and hope, told in a depth rarely seen in non-fiction, partly because one of the authors is a refugee himself, and partly because both authors spent years getting to know the interviewees and winning their trust. The women and men in this book tell their stories in their own words, retaining control and dignity, while revealing intimate and heartfelt scenes from their lives.
- GenresNonfictionTravelPolitics
336 pages, Paperback
Published October 18, 2022
10 people are currently reading
1724 people want to read
About the author
Helen Benedict
27 books91 followersHelen Benedict is an award-winning novelist and nonfiction writer, and a professor of journalism at Columbia University. Her latest novel, THE SOLDIER'S HOUSE, due out in April, 2026, tells the story of an American veteran of the Iraq War who takes in the widow, child and mother of his Iraqi interpreter who was killed for working with Americans. Alternating between the veteran Jimmy's voice, and that of the Iraqi widow, Naema, the novel asks the question of whether forgiveness is possible in the aftermath of an unjust war, not only between enemies but within families.
Benedict's previous novel, THE GOOD DEED (2024), addresses refugees, the problem with white saviors, and the relations between mothers and daughters.
The Good Deed draws on much of the material Benedict explored in her recent nonfiction book, Map of Hope and Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece (Footnote Press) which was released in the UK in June 2022 and in the US in October, 2022.
Kirkus Review called it, "A powerful collection of stories from refugees stuck in asylum limbo in Greece… Gut-wrenching and necessary, this book sharply depicts an escalating humanitarian crisis that shows few signs of slowing down…An important, deeply felt look at lives in constant peril."
Benedict's seventh and latest novel, Wolf Season (Bellevue Literary Press) in October, 2017.
The novel tells the story of how, after a hurricane devastates a small town in upstate New York, the lives of three women and their young children are irrevocably changed. Rin, an Iraq War veteran, tries to protect her daughter and the three wolves under her care. Naema, a widowed doctor who fled Iraq with her wounded son, faces life-threatening injuries and confusion about her feelings for Louis, a veteran and widower harboring his own secrets and guilt. Beth, who is raising a troubled son, waits out her marine husband’s deployment in Afghanistan, equally afraid of him coming home and of him never returning at all. As they struggle to maintain their humanity and find hope, their war-torn lives collide in a way that will affect their entire community.
“No one writes with more authority or cool-eyed compassion about the experience of women in war both on and off the battlefield than Helen Benedict. In Wolf Season, she shows us the complicated ways in which the lives of those who serve and those who don't intertwine and how—regardless of whether you are a soldier, the family of a soldier, or a refugee—the war follows you and your children for generations. Wolf Season is more than a novel for our times; it should be required reading.”
—ELISSA SCHAPPELL, author of Use Me and Blueprints for Building Better Girls
“Fierce and vivid and full of hope, this story of trauma and resilience, of love and family, of mutual aid and solidarity in the aftermath of a brutal war is nothing short of magic. Helen Benedict is the voice of an American conscience that has all too often been silenced. To read these pages is to be transported to a world beyond hype and propaganda to see the human cost of war up close. This is not a novel that allows you to walk away unchanged.”
—CARA HOFFMAN, author of Be Safe I Love You and Running
Benedict's previous novel, Sand Queen, was published by Soho Press in August, 2011. The novel tells the story of a young female soldier and an Iraqi woman caught up in the Iraq War.
“Benedict’s writing is impressive, passionate, and visceral. . . . Reading this book is the best literary path to understanding the particular challenges of being female in the military during warfare.” —Publishers Weekly “Best Contemporary War Novel” citation
Publisher’s Weekly also called Sand Queen “a thrilling and thoughtful new novel.” Booklist said, “Funny, shocking, painful, and, at times, deeply disturbing, Sand Queen takes readers beyond the news and onto the battlefield."
Benedict is also the author of The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving Iraq (20
Benedict's previous novel, THE GOOD DEED (2024), addresses refugees, the problem with white saviors, and the relations between mothers and daughters.
The Good Deed draws on much of the material Benedict explored in her recent nonfiction book, Map of Hope and Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece (Footnote Press) which was released in the UK in June 2022 and in the US in October, 2022.
Kirkus Review called it, "A powerful collection of stories from refugees stuck in asylum limbo in Greece… Gut-wrenching and necessary, this book sharply depicts an escalating humanitarian crisis that shows few signs of slowing down…An important, deeply felt look at lives in constant peril."
Benedict's seventh and latest novel, Wolf Season (Bellevue Literary Press) in October, 2017.
The novel tells the story of how, after a hurricane devastates a small town in upstate New York, the lives of three women and their young children are irrevocably changed. Rin, an Iraq War veteran, tries to protect her daughter and the three wolves under her care. Naema, a widowed doctor who fled Iraq with her wounded son, faces life-threatening injuries and confusion about her feelings for Louis, a veteran and widower harboring his own secrets and guilt. Beth, who is raising a troubled son, waits out her marine husband’s deployment in Afghanistan, equally afraid of him coming home and of him never returning at all. As they struggle to maintain their humanity and find hope, their war-torn lives collide in a way that will affect their entire community.
“No one writes with more authority or cool-eyed compassion about the experience of women in war both on and off the battlefield than Helen Benedict. In Wolf Season, she shows us the complicated ways in which the lives of those who serve and those who don't intertwine and how—regardless of whether you are a soldier, the family of a soldier, or a refugee—the war follows you and your children for generations. Wolf Season is more than a novel for our times; it should be required reading.”
—ELISSA SCHAPPELL, author of Use Me and Blueprints for Building Better Girls
“Fierce and vivid and full of hope, this story of trauma and resilience, of love and family, of mutual aid and solidarity in the aftermath of a brutal war is nothing short of magic. Helen Benedict is the voice of an American conscience that has all too often been silenced. To read these pages is to be transported to a world beyond hype and propaganda to see the human cost of war up close. This is not a novel that allows you to walk away unchanged.”
—CARA HOFFMAN, author of Be Safe I Love You and Running
Benedict's previous novel, Sand Queen, was published by Soho Press in August, 2011. The novel tells the story of a young female soldier and an Iraqi woman caught up in the Iraq War.
“Benedict’s writing is impressive, passionate, and visceral. . . . Reading this book is the best literary path to understanding the particular challenges of being female in the military during warfare.” —Publishers Weekly “Best Contemporary War Novel” citation
Publisher’s Weekly also called Sand Queen “a thrilling and thoughtful new novel.” Booklist said, “Funny, shocking, painful, and, at times, deeply disturbing, Sand Queen takes readers beyond the news and onto the battlefield."
Benedict is also the author of The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving Iraq (20
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 3, 2025
The way this book was written was really good, and the way the stories were mirrored and woven, coupled with the author’s commentary and scene setting was great. I only gave it a 3 ⭐️ because I expected fiction when I picked up the book, and found I wasn’t deeply invested\didn’t look forward to picking it up, which is what I want in a book. Maybe that’s due to the difficulty of the read emotionally, but I’m glad I read it and have those stories with me now.
August 13, 2025
As someone who has spent time working in a Greek refugee camp, Map of Hope and Sorrow hit close to home. These are not abstract stories to me; they’re deeply familiar. The sounds, the smells, the exhaustion, the quiet dignity people carry even after surviving the unimaginable, it’s all here.
Reading this book returned me to a place that lives inside me. It brought me back to the camp, the stories I heard, and the people I still think and care about. It reminds me why those stories matter, and why we have to keep listening. In a world that often turns away, this book asks us gently but urgently to choose empathy, every time.
Reading this book returned me to a place that lives inside me. It brought me back to the camp, the stories I heard, and the people I still think and care about. It reminds me why those stories matter, and why we have to keep listening. In a world that often turns away, this book asks us gently but urgently to choose empathy, every time.
June 5, 2025
A very effective book that chooses several deeply human accounts to shed light on the larger situation and systemic forces. While fact-checking is very difficult in this scenario, the accounts as they are presented are often gutting, and they can really put a reader's relatively comfortable life in the West into perspective. I've found a lot of writing focuses on the initial parts of fleeing one's country or arrival in the West, but this book emphasizes how many refugees are being corralled into bureaucratic limbo and dire living conditions in Greece.
October 18, 2022
By this masterpiece, Europians can realize that what the people of Middle East looks like! Living under sovereignity of tyrinnical leaders, without any hope and future and under consistent turture and lack of freedom…
January 13, 2023
Not an easy read in the slightest, but wonderfully written & deeply moving.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews