Little Princes by Conor Grennan Published by HarperCollins UK on January 27, 2011
Genres: Autobiography
Pages: 308
Format: Paperback
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
The riveting story of Conor Grennan’s year in Nepal reads like a cross between Into Thin Air and Three Cups of Tea. While volunteering at an orphanage, Conor discovers that the children are not orphans: they are trafficked. Despite the danger, Conor treks up dirt paths with photographs of the children, miraculously reuniting dozens of families.
Remember how in my opening week I told you that I had a blog many years ago? This is one of the posts that I have saved from there. I read this book when it first came out and I still think of it often. It’s one I never hear mention of any more but one that I whole-heartedly recommend.
This is quite possibly one of the best books I’ve read, add to this the fact that it’s a biography and five stars just doesn’t seem to do it justice. As soon as I finished it I was recommending it to family and friends.
Not only is this a really interesting and moving story but it’s really well written, Conor does a fantastic job of letting everybody’s personality show through in the way they speak. In a lot of ways this book reads more like a novel than like I biography, which I personally think makes it a lot easier to read. It also has a lot of humorous scenes interspersed with the more moving scenes. I think it’s a sign of a good writer if they can make you both laugh and cry within minutes of each other.
The work that he has done makes Conor an inspiration to many, it would have been so easy for him to have completed his initial 3 months and not looked back but the children affected him and got under his skin, as they have obviously done to a number of people as Conor makes it clear he has not worked alone in his fight to save these children.
A percentage of the proceeds from this book go to aid Conor’s work in caring for the children of Nepal and tracing their families. Once you read this you’ll understand just how important that is.
About Conor Grennan
Conor Grennan is a citizen of the US and Ireland. He grew up in Poughkeepsie NY and Jersey City, NJ. He spent eight years at the EastWest Institute (EWI), both in Prague and the EU Office in Brussels, focusing on peace and reconciliation in the Balkans. He left EWI in 2004 to travel and volunteer in Nepal, where he ultimately started Next Generation Nepal (NGN), an organization dedicated to reconnecting trafficked children with their families.
Conor was based in Kathmandu, Nepal, until October 2007, when he returned to the US. He is still active in NGN and serves on the Board. He holds degrees from the University of Virginia and the NYU Stern School of Business, and currently lives in Connecticut with his wife and son.
