by John Grisham
First published 2021
Seventeen-year-old Samuel Sooleymon is a rising basketball star in his village in South Sudan when war erupts, tearing his family apart. Fleeing the violence, Sooley wins a spot on an American college team, his ticket to a new life. But as he pursues his basketball dreams, he can't escape the trauma of his past or the threat of his family's safety back home. Sooley must find the strength to excel on the court while also fighting to bring his loved ones to safety.
Genres: fiction, african-literature, coming-of-age, sports, family-drama, basketball
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: America, South Sudan
Period: 21st-century
354 pages · Kindle Edition · Doubleday
Content warnings: violence, war