A thrillingly ambitious novel that spotlights the cruelties and injustices of child migration from Central America to the USA.

Telling the stories of one family’s road trip to the deserts of Arizona to find the homeland and memorials of the last free Apaches and the desperate train journey taken by some ‘illegal’ child migrants, Luiselli creates compelling drama and confronts the shocking hypocrisies of America.

The narrator and her husband met and married during a long sound archiving project. They believe in the value of recording and archiving audio. However when the project ends they find themselves drifting apart and plan a road trip to pursue their different interests and try to keep their family together. During the long car journey their children are immersed in their parents’ passions: the history of the Apache people and the fate of child migrants coming to the US but they are also aware of the growing tensions.

As an unconscious cry for help, the son secretly persuades his sister to set out on a trek to one of the fabled Indian sites their father has spoken of, unaware of the dangers to which they will be exposed. In a parallel story, two young sisters travelling from Mexico to be re-united with their mother after many years of separation, are abandoned by their ‘coyote’ in the desert, are imprisoned, escape and join a desperate band travelling illegally by train across the border. The fate of all four children is precarious.

With great skill Luiselli presents these affecting human stories in the harsh context of contemporary and historical political history, driving home the power of fiction to engage, inform, challenge and provoke the reader. A memorable, virtuoso performance.

Lost Children Archive has recently won the 2021 Dublin Literary Award, adding another trophy to the cabinet which includes the 2020 Rathbones Folio Prize, the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal and being longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize and 2019 Womens Prize for Fiction.

(review by Andrew)