The Great Agony and Pure Laughter of the Gods

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2013 COMMONWEALTH BOOK PRIZE!

Risto Mahuno’s agony is what happens to his sweetheart Néné, to his cousin, and to himself. In the east of the Congo, where the border with Rwanda is also the border between life and death, the boys are abducted and forced to become soldiers, the girls raped.

Far too much happens for 15-year-old children. Néné is claimed by the warlord, Risto’s cousin killed, and Risto, his eyes already dead, is beaten to the brink. His fate flings him south, on a fraught journey by foot or whatever ride he can get, to Mozambique, where he arrives with even less of himself left.

And yet the gods are laughing, for Risto’s journey back holds promise of love, peace and family. Risto’s story is based on real experiences.