River Spirit

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LEILA ABOULELA was born in Khartoum, Sudan and came to Britain in her twenties to study at the London School of Economics. Her first novel, 'The Translator', was long-listed for the Orange Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award, and short-listed for the Saltire

A New York Times and Herald Book of the Year Shortlisted for the HWA Crown Awards ‘A blazing historical epic of war, love and revolution’ LA Review of Books 1880s Sudan. When Akuany and her brother are orphaned in a village raid, they are taken in by Yaseen, a young merchant whose vow to care for them will tether him to Akuany throughout their lives. As revolution brews, Sudan begins to prise itself from its Ottoman rulers, and everyone must choose sides. Yaseen feels beholden to stand against the self-proclaimed Mahdi, a decision that threatens to splinter his family. Meanwhile, Akuany grows into womanhood and travels alone across the fractured country, sold and traded from house to house, with only Yaseen as her intermittent lifeline. Their struggle will mirror the increasingly bloody struggle for Sudan itself: for freedom, safety and the possibility of love. River Spirit is a powerful tale of unshakeable devotion – to a cause, to faith and to the people who become family.

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