9780739383377

The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of Mountains Beyond Mountains presents the story of Burundi civil war survivor Deo, who endures homelessness before pursuing an education at Columbia and eventually returning to his native land to help people in both countries. Simultaneous.

"This profoundly gripping, hopeful and crucial testament is a work of the utmost skill, sympathy and moral clarity." (starred review)

"Deo's hopeful story may be intended as some kind of uplifting continental metaphor, but it's inevitably something else as well: a depressing tale of Africa's chaotic destitution, which grinds on despite heroes and even saints. But despair is far from the point here. Kidder's abiding preoccupation is the everyday heroism of ordinary people, and his latest is rife with such unsung heroes....The decency of some in the face of others' almost unimaginable cruelty adds richness and wonder to what otherwise might have been the amply remarkable story of one person's miraculous survival."