In the tradition of the film "City Of God", this is a novel of Africa's child soldiers, by French Africa's pre-eminent novelist. 'It is a powerful, shocking and deeply moving novel...' "Guardian"

Ahmadou Kourouma was born in the Ivory Coast in 1927. Hailed as one of the leading African writers in French, he died in 2003.

"It is a powerful, shocking and deeply moving novel; an African Lord of the Flies. Through Kourouma's skilful telling, the characters live on the page."
-"Guardian"
"Melding fiction and fact with the humility of childhood, Ahmadou Kourouma deftly exposes the desperate nature of the civil wars -- and the relentless poverty -- that have ravaged Africa...."
-"New Statesman"