When you have lost everything, how far would you go?What would you do to protect your child? The war in Kosovo has already been relegated to the history books but in Flying with Kites, Alan Reynolds reminds us of the brutality and futility of this tragic conflict. In a powerful and moving account, we follow the plight of Katya Gjikolli an English teacher who is forced to flee her native village with her baby son after her husband had been captured by Serb forces and believed killed. Echoing actual events, we are transported through the unforgiving landscape of a Balkan winter, sharing the horror of her brief capture and subsequent escape. The flight to a squalid refugee camp in Macedonia and subsequent evacuation to the UK are vividly portrayed and we share her anxiety as she is resettled with another refugee and her daughter in a tower block in Newcastle. The story follows the two women s differing experiences and how they cope with acclimatising to the new culture. We learn too about the local population and how they are also trying to survive and make the most of their lives which become inexorably intertwined with the refugees.