A powerful, devastating insight into a situation often viewed through a political rather than a personal lens. In 2013, Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani sought asylum in Australia but was instead illegally detained in the country's most notorious prison on Manus Island. He has been there ever since. This book is the result of that experience. Behrouz Boochani spent nearly five years typing passages of this book one by one on a secret mobile phone in prison. Collected and translated from Persian, they form an incredible story of how he was captured as a stateless person while fleeing political persecution in Iran. This vivid, gripping portrait of his years of detention and exile sheds devastating light on the fate of so many refugees as borders close worldwide. No Friend but the Mountains is both a courageous act of testimony and a moving testament to the humanity of all people under the most extreme circumstances. No Friend but the Mountains rightly deserves its place on the shelf of world literature about prisons. It is a profound victory for a young poet who has shown us all how much words can still mean.