Together with her big brother Jando and her little sister Teya, Jeanne is well looked after as she grows up in Rwanda. Her parents—both teachers and members of the Tutsi—educate their children with affectionate rigour.

But shortly after Jeanne’s eighth birthday her carefree childhood comes to a sudden end: in April 1994 the Rwandan genocide begins and in just 100 days a million people lose their lives. Amongst the dead are Jando, Teya and Jeanne’s parents.

Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You narrates the story of an impressive girl that flees from the murderers of her family. The book tells of Jeanne’s fear and despair, but also of her courage, her pride and her unwavering will to survive the catastrophe. She starts a new life far away from Rwanda.

Jeanne’s story is unique yet her fate is exemplary of the plight and distress of innumerable people who suffer and experience migration and displacement today.

by Hanna Jansen

“This is an extraordinary book. It needs to be on the school curriculum, like The Diary of Ann Frank or All Quiet on the Western Front. I’ll never forget it.” – Emma Thompson

“At times I couldn’t bear to carry on reading, I was so deeply affected by it.” – Berlie Doherty

  • New, revised edition!
  • Winner of the Buxtehuder Bulle
  • Austrian Children’s and Young Adult Prize – Nomination
  • Goldmedal Indpendent Publisher Book Award
  • Friedrich-Gerstäcker-Prize – Nomination

Peter Hammer Verlag | hc | 304 pp | Feb 2015 | 14+

Rights sold: Dutch, English, Korean

[original title: Über tausend Hügel wandere ich mit dir]