A remarkable and gripping story about one refugee boy on a desperate journey from Afghanistan, and the Australian boy who befriends him

Each step becomes a heartbeat and I feel the distance between Omed and me closing. I remember when I first met him—when he had showed me what bravery meant. How he had stood up for what he believed. In the end that had been his undoing.

This compelling story of two young men introduces Omed, an Afghani refugee who, after his father is murdered by the Taliban, undertakes a perilous journey through Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia to seek asylum in Australia; and Hector, an Australian boy consumed by grief, who has given up on school and retreated into silence. Their paths meet at a candle factory where they both find work, and secrets fester behind the monotonous routine: secrets with terrible consequences. These two silent boys—one born in a land of great beauty and great violence, the other unable to escape the past—are tied together by words, and silenced by tragedy. The hardest bridge that Hector will ever build is the one that leads to Omed. Their story will grab hold of readers' hearts and not let go.