Big Small People

Big-Small People is a haunting, unflinching exploration of what it means to be young in a world that devours its children. Brutal, urgent, and deeply human, this is a story of loss and longing, of boys made into weapons and girls silenced by grief. A powerful tale told through the eyes of three children from different backgrounds and their devastating encounters with terrorism.

Ahmed never imagined that leaving home would mean losing himself. Sent to an almajiri school, hunger, beatings, and forced faith leave scars on his body and mind. But when the school delivers him into the hands of militants, his world shrinks to the trigger of a gun and the promise of paradise.

Stephanie knows how to stay quiet, how to shrink herself in a home where silence is survival. But when a terrorist attack takes her best friend, the silence swallows her whole. Her father, powerful in politics but absent in her life, offers no answers. And when Deborah, a girl from an IDP camp, is brought into their house, grief collides with guilt, forcing Stephanie to ask questions.

Deborah has lost everything, her family, her home, even the right to her own memories. Now she is in a house where she does not belong, surrounded by people who do not understand. But ghosts do not stay buried, and the past does not stay silent. As her presence forces open wounds no one wants to face, Deborah must decide if survival is enough or if she will demand for more.