“You have to survive”: Reading trauma, survival and adolescent resilience in N.H. Senzai’s contemporary young adult war narrative, Escape from Aleppo

In recent years, millions of Syrians – one-third of them under the age of 18 – have sought refuge in neighbouring and far off regions. This article explores the representations of the impact of trauma on young people and their prospects for healing in N.H. Senzai’s 2018 Young Adult novel, Escape from Aleppo. Recent scholarship on decolonizing trauma studies urges approaches that incorporate aspects of recuperation and resilience, focusing on the possibility of post-traumatic growth and healing. Situated at the intersection of trauma studies and young adult literature, this article examines the post-traumatic growth of Senzai’s young protagonist through negotiations with history that foster resilience and help Syrians to cope with distress. Representing survival through the conventions of the Young Adult genre, the novel balances two extremes – suffering and hopefulness – and provides an alternative response to trauma that highlights emotional growth through localized systems of knowledge available to young survivors.