During the Eritrean struggle for independence from Ethiopia, four Westerners travel under Eritrean rebel escort through a land of savage beauty and bitter drought towards the ancient capital of Asmara. Each is on a personal mission, all are irrevocably changed as they bear witness to the devastation of war as well as to the Eritreans’ courage and humanity in the face of constant attack.
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Reviews
It is a tribute to the power of his narrative that his book reads as the factual account of a journey behind the lines, in the course of which a forgotten history is given flesh and blood
The landscape and the scenario of war and famine are brilliantly used as a backdrop against which the characters' own internal strife and moral hunger are illuminated
Not since For Whom the Bell Tolls has a book of such sophistication, the work of a major international novelist, spoken out so unambiguously on behalf of an armed struggle
Keneally advances on the interminable conflict with all his customary assurance and probing curiosity . . . The war springs vividly to life . . . [He] keeps things moving through a brilliantly portrayed landscape
Memorable, provocative, full of interest
A touching tribute to a nation which survives, miraculously, on hope against hope
Keneally has created a passionate, clear-sighted protagonist, and his companions are just as compelling . . . They react and interact in an atmosphere at once dangerous and invigorating