Little Bee by Chris Cleave – 5 Stars (Rounded up)

[Hannah]

This is a book that I have been meaning to read for a few years, and I am happy to have finally got around to it. It is a tale of immigration and how poorly immigrants are treated here in the UK, being locked up for years in immigration centres after claiming asylum on arrival, and being poorly treated, and in some cases, sexually abused in those centres whilst being forced to re-live their trauma multiple times. Although that is just the opening of the book, and the book works backwards to reveal what happened to make Little Bee flee Nigeria and claim asylum, and how she came to find Sarah. The story kept me interested throughout, although I was disappointed by the ending, and I’m not sure how realistic it was. I think it would have been better to leave the ending more open.