Each year, more than 400 minors arrive alone in Canada requesting refugee status. They arrive without their parents, accompanied by no adult at all.

Alone relates the journey of three of them: Afshin, Alain and Patricia. Their story opens a window onto the many heartbreaks, difficult sacrifices and countless hardships that punctuate their obstacle-filled path. But Alone most especially tells of the courage and resilience that these young people demonstrated before being able to finally obtain a life where threats and danger are no longer a part of their everyday existence.

Paul Tom is an author who grew up in a refugee camp in in Thailand, the son of Cambodian parents. He currently lives in Montreal. Seuls is his debut book.

Arielle Aaronson is a Montreal-based translator.