The Youngest Cameleer

Book excerpt: Ahmed Ackbar, a thirteen-year-old Afghan and the youngest Afghan cameleer speaks Pashto and a very little English. He is the only surviving male in his immediate family. In late 1872 he sails into the prosperous city of Adelaide with three cameleers (Uncle Kamran, Alannah and Jemma Khan) to help look after four camels. But Ahmed has other things on his mind. What if his uncle isn't as innocent of his brother's (Ahmed's father) death as he seems? As the expedition treks into an unexplored interior, Ahmed must cope with Jemma Khan's enmity, his own homesickness, a very different culture and language, and the difficulties of exploration.