Eighteen months ago, we invited you to follow a project we were embarking on with Le Monde, El País and Der Spiegel to look more closely at the lives of refugees and asylum seekers as they tried to make new homes for themselves in Europe.

Almost 10,000 of you signed up to this newsletter, and this is the final instalment.

There were a number of highs and lows. In an atmosphere of increasing hostility towards immigration, our work shone a spotlight on myriad success stories: the Syrians of south Wales; the Afghan woman granted leave to remain after our article about her; the happy newcomers; the German approach and innovation in Spain.

But for our protagonist, there was no happy ending. Said Ghullam Norzai, and his son Wali Khan, decided life would be easier in Afghanistan, from where they fled three years ago, rather than trying to secure a future in the UK.

We close our series with the full story of their time in Britain, a remarkable feature by Kate Lyons that exposes many of the systemic failures in the UK asylum system, which have also been uncovered by Amelia Gentleman’s work on the Windrush immigration fiasco.

We trust this newsletter has been valuable to you. If so, do look out for similar Guardian services aimed at providing you with the news you care about.

Thank you and all the best.