A Somali youth is torn between duty to family and country. On the one hand Askar, an orphan, should look after his foster mother, on the other he wants to be a man and emulate his father who died fighting the Ethiopians. By an English-speaking Somali writer, author of Secrets. "Startling . . . passionate. Farah's masterpiece." —The New York Times Book Review

“Nuruddin Farah takes us deep into territory he has charted and mapped and made uniquely his own. . . . He excels in giving voice to tragedy in remote places of the world that speak directly and familiarly to our own hearts.”—Chinua Achebe

“Nuruddin Farah is one of the real interpreters of experience in our troubled continent. His insight goes deep, beyond events.”—Nadine Gordimer

“Nuruddin Farah is a major writer, one of Africa’s best.”—Robert Coover