TEARS OF THE DESERT A Memoir of Survival in Darfur

This memoir of a well-loved young woman’s coming-of-age in a village in Darfur, Sudan, is interrupted by political tension and violence, which usher her into a fractured adulthood. Rosalyn Landor is the narrator for this tumultuous journey. Her subdued voice moves between childhood recollections and adult musings, navigating the fable-like quality of the author’s early years in the village and delivering the guttural tones of the advancing soldiers. Landor also expresses Bashir's confusion and longing of being exiled from her homeland. Landor's gentle cadence and subtle British accent mimic the intonation of a nonnative speaker of English, drawing the reader into the African setting and illuminating the characters created in Bashir's heartbreaking story. M.R. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2008]