A stunning novel set in the wake of the Second World War, Little Exiles tells the extraordinary story of the forced child migration between Britain and Australia that took place after World War II and how this flight from home shaped the identity of a generation of children.


What if someone you loved asked you to pack a bag and said that they would see you again soon?


When Jon Heather’s mother leaves him by the door of the Chapeltown Boys’ Home of the Children’s Crusade, one cold night in post-war Leeds, he is convinced there has been a dreadful mistake. But several weeks later, nine-year-old Jon finds himself on a boat bound for Australia. Promised paradise, he soon realizes the reality of the Australian outback is very different: a life of hard labour on unforgiving terrain, under an alien sun. So begins a journey that will last a lifetime, as Jon Heather and his group of unlikely friends battle to make their way back home.