To save his life, they sent him away from everything he ever knew.

Following their father’s unexpected death, four-year-old Joseph and his brothers face the terrible fate reserved for Jewish orphans in Yemen: the Orphans’ Decree. To save them from being forcefully converted to Islam, their young mother, Luluah, decides to send them away to the port city of Aden, where their uncle awaits to smuggle them out of the country and into the Promised Land.

Under the cover of darkness, five small figures leave their home in the nameless Yemenite village, never to return. The journey to the city of Aden is perilous, and when young Joseph falls deathly ill on the road, the brothers face an impossible choice: do they leave Joseph behind in a foreign city, or do they take him with them—and seal his fate?

An unforgettable coming-of-age novel based on a true story, The Lost Orphan Boy is an intimate portrayal of life in rural Yemen, the power of family bonds, the sweet promise of freedom, and the steep price one must pay for it.