Nowhere Boy

Nowhere Boy is 2018 a young adult novel by Katherine Marsh set in Brussels, Belgium, in 2015-2016. The chapters alternate between the perspectives of Ahmed Nasser, a 14-year-old Syrian refugee, and Max Howard, a 13-year-old American dealing with homesickness and culture shock. When Max discovers Ahmed living in the basement of the Howards’ home, the boys develop a friendship despite a general climate of fear and the threat of discovery by the authorities. Ahmed’s resilience and Max’s resourcefulness enable Ahmed to briefly to attend school, and the boys journey to Hungary to find Ahmed’s father. This novel deals with themes of friendship and empathy in the face of xenophobia and oppression. Marsh draws upon her own experience as an American living in Brussels, as well as the stories her grandparents told about fleeing their countries of origin in search of a better life.

This guide refers to the Square Fish 2018 print edition.

Content Warning: The source material deals with xenophobia, racism, and Islamophobia and depicts images of war, discrimination, and violence; this guide touches on these topics.

Plot Summary

Nowhere Boy opens with chapters that alternate between the experiences of Ahmed, a 14-year-old boy fleeing the war in Syria, and Max, a 13-year-old American spending a year abroad with his family. Both boys find themselves in Brussels: Ahmed after a harrowing sea journey where he loses his father and Max after moving there for his father’s job. Ahmed first stays with his father’s friend Ibrahim in a camp for refugees in Brussels’s Parc Maximilien. After the city shuts down the camp, Ahmed ends up hiding in an unused wine cellar in the Howards’ basement. Meanwhile, Max experiences culture shock at his French-speaking school and feels general resentment toward his situation. Max spends the afternoons working with a tutor, Madame Pauline, and they are visited by Inspector Fontaine, a local police officer with strong anti-immigrant views.

Ahmed stays in the Howards’ wine cellar for weeks before Max discovers him. During this time, Ahmed begins taking care of some orchids that Max’s mother left for dead. He also decorates his living space with pictures from soccer magazines and an image of a man with a birdcage for a body, which turns out to be a painting by René Magritte. Max continues to struggle to fit in with his peers in school and at Scouts. From Madame Pauline, Max learns about Albert Jonnart, the namesake of the street where his family’s rental home is located. Jonnart, a member of the Belgian Resistance, sheltered a Jewish boy from the Gestapo and lost his life for doing so.

Although he is initially startled by Ahmed’s presence, Max promises not to tell anyone. The boys bond over comic books, superheroes, and soccer. As a terror attack in Paris leads to panic over Islamist extremism, Max remains committed to protecting Ahmed. He learns about the Syrian refugee crisis and starts bringing Ahmed clothes and food. After a while, Ahmed tells Max about his life in Syria and how a bomb killed his family. As Ahmed and Max’s friendship grows, Max decides to help Ahmed enroll in school.

Max forges an identity card for Ahmed and enlists the assistance of Farah, a friend from school who agrees to impersonate Ahmed’s mother to enroll him in classes. Oscar, another student, intercepts the forged ID, but after meeting Ahmed, he agrees to help by using his access to the commune office, where his mother works.

Ahmed loves being in school again and thrives in class. One day, there is a terrorist attack on the Brussels airport. Worried by the presence of Inspector Fontaine, Ahmed decides to leave without saying goodbye to Max. Max, Oscar, and Farah locate Ibrahim’s apartment, hoping to find Ahmed there. Ibrahim tells them he has not seen Ahmed, but he adds that he has learned that Ahmed’s father is alive and in a detention center in Hungary. When Max locates Ahmed in a nearby park, they agree to go to Hungary together to find Baba.

The night before Max and Ahmed plan to leave, Inspector Fontaine comes to the house looking for an undocumented refugee. Max and Ahmed evade the police and manage to catch a train out of Belgium, despite heightened security. When they arrive at the detention center in Hungary, guards arrest Ahmed, and Inspector Fontaine comes out of the detention center office to take Max back to Belgium. Later, Ahmed reunites with Baba in the detention center.

Over the next month, Ahmed and Max email each other. Ahmed learns that the detention center will deport Ahmed and his father back to Greece. Max writes a letter to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in Maryland. In the letter, Max describes his friendship with Ahmed and compares Ahmed’s plight to that of Ralph Mayer, the Jewish boy shielded by Albert Jonnart. A few weeks later, Ahmed and Baba receive permission to move to America, to a location only a few hours from Max. For the first time in years, Ahmed feels hopeful for his future.