While in detention Ealom suffers prison-like conditions, is the victim of a violent attack, attempts suicide, and goes on hunger strike.

[1] The conditions in the detention center were prison-like, toilets are overflowing with raw sewage, the food is rotten, Ealom is housed in an unbearably hot shipping container.

[4] In May 2017, after three and a half years of detention, a suicide attempt, a hunger strike, and serious injuries from an attack, Ealom orchestrates his escape.

He flies to Solomon Islands and then, benefiting from the travel rules between Commonwealth countries, buys a flight to Toronto, Canada.

[1] Chris Breen, writing in Australian magazine Solidarity, notes the books clear critique of Australia's refugee policy and predicts that it will be made into a film.