In Secrets in the Fire by Henning Mankell Sofia and Maria have to face alot of challenges.Sofia and Martian were in a small villege that they loved and that they would never leave. But during the night bandits came to the village and killed everone there except Sofia Maria, and their mother Lydia.So they had to run away from the village untill they found a new villege that bandits didn't come too. When they got to a safe village they made a hut, but soon they figured out that there were landmines and they could'nt step of the traces or the bobs will explode. But one day Maria and Sofia steped on a land mine and it exploded.Now they both are in a hostptal.That is just one of  the challeges that Maria and Sofia faced .