Raphael and his friends find themselves in real danger, when Raphael discovers a bag containing a mysterious letter and a key. They’re dumpsite boys who live and scavenge in the mountainous rubbish dump of a big city, and the local police are out in force trying to retrieve this bag. The boys’ desperate attempt to avoid the police and find the political prisoner to whom the letter is written is a riveting story.

Like Morris Gleitzman, Andy Mulligan uses a great plot and the voices of innocent children to lead the reader into another world, this one of extreme poverty and political corruption which is almost beyond our imagining. Recommended for ages ten to 14-ish.