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Edited by Jennifer Langer
Five Leaves Publications
£9.99
ISBN 0907123 63 5

Eighty per cent of the world's refugees are women and understanding their experiences is essential to social work practice with them.

Crossing the Border is an anthology of prose and poetry by women refugees about their experiences and the writers' diverse styles give a personal insight into their worlds. Some of the writing is gentle and refined, some rough and raw. This multitude of expression highlights the different ways to articulate the worst experiences imaginable.

Reading this one is left with a huge sense of the loss, horror and powerlessness these women have experienced, but the book also shows the power of the pen in resisting and coming to terms with what has happened to them. Equally, one feels shamed by the behaviour of some of the host countries' citizens.

Above all, one shares the writers' mourning for the personal things that form people's daily experiences - buses in Sarajevo, homemade pickles, the smell of jasmine and "oranges glowing like sunsets".

Crossing the Border won't explain how to be a social worker with women refugees. But if you want to know why, read it.

Neil Bateman is performance manager, Connexions Suffolk, and a former lead officer on refugee issues, Suffolk Council.