Esther Akello is one of thirty Ugandan teenage girls abducted from a Catholic boarding school by rebel bandits. Held captive by the Lord’s Resistance Army, Esther is forced to witness and commit unspeakable atrocities. She struggles to survive, to escape, and to find a way to live with what she has seen and done. Jane Wood is a sensual, idealistic American writer who is traveling across Africa, hoping to give a voice to young people like Esther and to find her own center.

“Wrenching...Suspenseful...By far her best novel.”
— The New York Times
“Extraordinary...Panoramic...Poetic...Minot shows her readers that war zones cannot be contained within one country, or one region. When cruelty and violence reign, we are all at risk.”
— NPR
“A novel of quiet humanity and probing intelligence...Susan Minot takes huge questions and examines them with both a delicate touch and a cleareyed, unyielding scrutiny.”
— The New York Times Book Review