Children Are Diamonds: An African Apocalypse - Softcover

"The ferocious lucidity of Hoagland's language and the depth of his characters as they navigate political complexity, hellish violence, endless fear, persistent desire, and desperate calculations of survival make for a shattering tale of epic suffering, bitter irony, and miraculous flashes of beauty." Booklist "A gritty cinematic story wrapped in brilliant African detail, mesmerizing, from the unforgettable opening scene, on to the end. Quite simply, a masterpiece." Garrison Keillor "Edward Hoagland has long been both a resolute explorer and a preternaturally versatile writer. He's written more nonfiction than fiction, but what he brings to this terrifying novel I mean, in addition to his humane vision and exquisite craft is everything he has learned (as Graham Greene learned) from the world. The range and depth of Hoagland's travel books, and of his many remarkable essays, are on display in this novel set in Africa, where killing and sexual brutality are juxtaposed with humanitarian care. Hoagland's aid workers are damaged souls, but they haven't quit. In a world of unbearable inhumanity, what comes across in this intrepid novel is the power of doing the right thing even, or especially, in a moral outback." John Irving "Children Are Diamonds is the latest addition to a remarkable collection of books about the war in southern Sudan that evokes the time and place with haunting imagery. Hoagland aptly captures the lives of Western do-gooders and opportunists lured by the adrenaline rush of Africa, evoking the closeness, and the randomness, of death in a war zone." New York Times "The ferocious lucidity of Hoagland's language and the depth of his characters as they navigate political complexity, hellish violence, endless fear, persistent desire, and desperate calculations of survival make for a shattering tale of epic suffering, bitter irony, and miraculous flashes of beauty." Booklist "A gritty cinematic story wrapped in brilliant African detail, mesmerizing, from the unforgettable opening scene, on to the end. Quite simply, a masterpiece." Garrison Keillor "Edward Hoagland has long been both a resolute explorer and a preternaturally versatile writer. He's written more nonfiction than fiction, but what he brings to this terrifying novel I mean, in addition to his humane vision and exquisite craft is everything he has learned (as Graham Greene learned) from the world. The range and depth of Hoagland's travel books, and of his many remarkable essays, are on display in this novel set in Africa, where killing and sexual brutality are juxtaposed with humanitarian care. Hoagland's aid workers are damaged souls, but they haven't quit. In a world of unbearable inhumanity, what comes across in this intrepid novel is the power of doing the right thing even, or especially, in a moral outback." John Irving "Children Are Diamonds is the latest addition to a remarkable collection of books about the war in southern Sudan that evokes the time and place with haunting imagery. Hoagland aptly captures the lives of Western do-gooders and opportunists lured by the adrenaline rush of Africa, evoking the closeness, and the randomness, of death in a war zone." New York Times

This is not the Africa of Isak Dinsen or Joy Adamson. This is the Africa of civil wars and tribal massacres, where the Lord's Resistance Army drafts child-soldiers after forcing them to kill their parents and eat their hearts. The aid workers who voluntarily subject themselves to life here are a breed apart. Meet Hickey, an American in is late 30s, a school teacher who burned his bridges with the school board, and finds himself in Africa as an itinerant aid worker. Assisting an agency in Nairobi, one of his jobs is to drive food and medical supplies to an aid station in Southern Sudan run by Ruth, a middle-aged woman, who acts as nurse, doctor, hospice provider, feeder of starving children, and witness. Ruth is gruff but efficient and Hickey, who is usually drawn to youth and beauty, is struck by her devotion. When he returns to Nairobi he can't forget what he has seen. Violence and chaos in the region increase to fever pitch and aid workers are being murdered or evacuated. Hickey is asked to save Ruth overland by Jeep, and what happens to them and the children who have joined their flight is searing. In this stunning novel, Hoagland paints an unflinching portrait of human suffering at its worst, and yet amidst that suffering there is hope manifested by humility, sacrifice, and life-affirming friendship. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.