by Craig Walzer
First published 2015
Abuk survived a decade in slavery after Arab militias captured her in South Sudan. Now living in Boston, she tells her story alongside three other refugees whose lives were torn apart by conflict in Northeast Africa. Marcy and Rose grew up as best friends in Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp, with barely any memories of their original homes in Sudan. Mathok fled to Cairo seeking opportunities but found himself pulled into gang violence instead. John works as a teacher in a Nairobi slum, fighting to keep his school for Sudanese refugees from closing. Each narrator describes what their lives were like before displacement forced them to flee. They reveal why they had to leave everything behind and what happened during their escapes from wars in Darfur and South Sudan. Their accounts take readers through the major stops along the refugee trail, from desert camps around Khartoum to underground communities in Cairo to the sprawling humanitarian operations at Kakuma camp. These four voices illuminate the human cost of persecution and conflict.
Genres: historical-fiction, african-literature, contemporary, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, personal-journey
Setting: Boston, Kenya, Kakuma, Sudan, Darfur, South Sudan, Khartoum, Cairo, Nairobi
Period: 21st-century
390 pages · Hardcover · Haymarket Books
Content warnings: slavery, war