One More Mountain

Deborah Ellis's One More Mountain is a tense, big-hearted story for 10 year olds about a girl who jumps out of a window rather than get engaged.

What happens

It's the fifth book about Parvana, and years have gone by. Parvana is grown up now. She runs Green Valley, a safe home for girls who've had to run away, with her old friend Shauzia (who's now a police officer).

The first chapters follow two people. One is Damsa. She's fifteen, rich and very spoilt, until her father decides to marry her off to clear his debts. She runs from her own engagement party in a frilly borrowed dress.

At Green Valley there are no servants, only chores. Damsa has never done one in her life! Chatty Larmina takes her under her wing and hands her the scissors to cut that dress to pieces.

The other is Rafi, Parvana's eleven-year-old son. He's won a place at a ballet school in New York and he's travelling with his Aunt Maryam, a pop star who complains about absolutely everything (especially the burqa).

Then it's 2021 and the Taliban take Kabul. Back at Green Valley, the girls paint their bright gate a very dull grey in the dark.

It's tense, but it's kind too. Everyone at supper claps for each other. There's a Talib who still remembers the poetry he learned at Green Valley as a boy. And when Rafi gets scared he recites ballet steps instead of times tables. Isn't that a lovely nod to his mum?

This is a hard book in places, so it's worth knowing what's in it before you hand it over. It opens with Damsa on the edge of a roof, ready to jump, until Shauzia talks her down. Her father hits her. The girls at Green Valley have escaped forced marriages, and one was burned with hot oil by her brother. Another girl is only thirteen and already has a baby.

These things are told simply, without gory detail, but it's a lot. A sensitive child, or one who worries about the news, may find it upsetting. For a reader who's followed Parvana all the way, it's brave and warm (and a very real picture of what girls in Afghanistan faced in 2021).

It leans on everything that's happened before, so if your reader is new to Parvana, start them with The Breadwinner.

What to read next

If they'd like another young dancer whose life is turned upside down by war, try No Ballet Shoes in Syria. Aya is eleven, she's escaped Aleppo with her mum and baby brother, and in Manchester she hears a ballet class through the ceiling.