A guardian best fiction book of 2019 'devastating... The brutal beauty of crossing comes from its almost cellular understanding of belonging and exclusion, love and cruelty' Guardian 'fierce, dazzling and heart-breaking' Noviolet bulawayo from the author of My cat Yugoslavia bujar's world is collapsing. His father is dying and his homeland, Albania, bristles with hunger and unrest. When his fearless friend agim is discovered wearing his mother's red dress and beaten with his father's belt, he persuades bujar to flee. This is the beginning of a journey across cities, borders and Identities as the young pair seek to forge a new life. Pursued by memories of their homeland and echoes of childhood folk tales, they risk losing themselves in the struggle to leave their pasts behind.