Where I Belong — Gillian Cross

Master storyteller Gillian Cross's exciting new novel, set in London and Somalia, grapples with issues of identity, trust, and family. In the hot desert of Somalia, Mahmoud is kidnapped and held for a ten thousand-dollar ransom. His older sister, Khadija, is in London, thousands of miles away; and yet Mahmoud's life is in her hands. Someone has discovered her identity, that she is Qarsoon -- the Hidden One -- the face of famous fashion designer Sandy Dexter's newest collection. Who can Khadija trust to help her? She now must appear as planned on the Fashion Week runway. Only then can she possibly earn the money to save Mahmoud's life. Also involved is Abdi, a fourteen-year-old boy coming to terms with the mysterious disappearance of his father, and Freya, the totally unfashionable daughter of Sandy Dexter, trying to find her place in her mother's world of haute couture.