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How Fast Can You Run by Harriet Levin Millan

Many people have heard of Africa’s lost boys, but none tell their story quite so well as Harriet Levin Millan, who shares her first-hand account, in this elegantly written book. As inspirational as it is lustrous, the book follows the journey of lost boy, Michael Majok Kuch, as he sets off to find his mother, after his village is burned down in Southern Sudan. “When I met Mike, a South Sudanese ‘Lost Boy’ who told me his story, I was given this tremendous gift. I wanted to document his story in a way that would inspire people. I felt a tremendous desire to do this, before it was erased, the way my family’s history, fleeing anti-Semitism in Russia, and Eastern Europe has been. I never knew my grandparent’s real names, the names of the towns they came from, or the conditions of their migration to the U.S. There is power in understanding. I felt it was important to document Mike’s story so that people could begin to understand the situation in South Sudan, and open their hearts to refugees. The displacement that happened to Mike and his family, could happen to any one of us. The perpetrators may change, but the history of humanity is a refugee narrative,” shares Millan. Check out the most popular book from the year you were born.