Writing the challenges of daily life for refugee youth

Winnipeg-based author Brenda Hasiuk tackles life in a new country, changing friendships, heroic journeys, lies, and guilt in her new novel for young adults, Swan Dive. Lazar (who goes by Cristoff or Cris to his friends) now lives in Winnipeg with his family after fleeing Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. This complex novel unfolds in the form of the journal he writes at the request of his therapist, in which he tells the story of his relationship with Elle, his best friend since he arrived in Canada at age 10.

Now, Cris is almost 16, and he’s trying to put together his world that blew apart with a lie he told, a lie that grew and multiplied like cancer cells.

Cris isn’t dying, but Hasiuk was inspired by what has been called “sick lit” in the young adult genre. “The drama and profundity that comes with exploring death, especially death that comes far too early for smart, attractive teens in their prime, is definitely a ripe topic for fiction,” she says.

“But I’ve always felt that, though the dying have much to share with us about how to (or how not to!) experience death, they have little to share about the day-to-day slog of living.”

Day-to-day living is not easy for Cris, and only his friendship with Elle, a fellow outsider, makes him truly happy. With dreams of making it big, the two form their band CristElle and practise and perform.

But that relationship changes when Elle matures and starts moving in popular circles. They leave their band behind and join a choir, and they meet Ivan. Cris sees him as a threat to his friendship with Elle, but Hasiuk is quick to say, “Ivan is no villain. He’s a perfectly nice kid who just happens to be everything Cris is not.” Cris craves the kind of positive attention that Ivan draws effortlessly.

Interspersed with Cris’s journal entries are hostile email messages from Elle, hinting at the dramatically changed nature of their relationship.

Cris’s experiences as a refugee and as a Winnipeg high school student have forced him to understand only too well that change is a fact of life.

Hasiuk has gained her knowledge of the refugee experience through helping to sponsor Syrian families who are coming to Canada, fleeing a war zone in a way similar to how Cris’s family did, leaving their homes quickly to ensure the safety of their families. Fleeing conditions like that causes a child to grow up quickly, and moving to a safe country can be a big shock.

Hasiuk explains, “I guess this is all to say that one day, Cris/Lazar – an awkward, slightly spoiled kid who was too young to internalize the brief war of his childhood but deep down understands the mythic power of death all too well – came to me and would not let go.

“His journey of navigating the everyday trials of safe, nice, banal public schools in a safe, nice, banal city like Winnipeg became the story I had to tell.”