Fourteen-year-old Andrew is an aspiring palaeontologist and otherwise regular school kid. His older sister Anna is a university activist who passionately believes she can make a difference. Rosa an East-Timorese refugee with nowhere to go faces an uncertain future as she waits for her asylum case to be heard.

Compelled by passion and youthful idealism and against her parents' wishes Anna hides Rosa in her parents' house drawing Andrew in to help. Andrew now has to keep secrets from his parents his friends and his high school crush. He's forced to face a crisis he would have otherwise ignored while confronting the question of right wrong-and that grey area in between.

Refuge is just as relevant now as it was when it was first published in 1998.