Song for Night - Softcover

'Chris Abani might be the most courageous writer working right now. He writes like an angel. If you want to get at the molten heart of contemporary fiction, Abani is the starting point.' Dave Eggers; 'Abani is a fiction writer of mature and bounteous gifts ... Song for Night contains, at once, an extraordinary ferocity and a vulnerable beauty all its own.' The New York Times; 'A devastating portrait of a boy holding onto the shreds of his innocence during a war that deliberately, remorselessly works to yank it away.' Los Angeles Times; 'Abani writes in a fearless prose.' Time Out Chicago; 'An impressive and fast-paced barrage of description and observation of war narrated with such dry and lucid precision that it brings to mind Babel, Hemingway, McCarthy.' Esquire

Even with the knowledge that there are some sins too big for even God to forgive, every night my sky is still full of stars; a wonderful song for night. Trained as a human mine detector, a boy soldier in West Africa witnesses and takes part in unspeakable brutality. At 12 his vocal cords are cut to prevent him from screaming and giving away his platoon's presence, should he be blown up. Awaking after an explosion to find that he's lost his platoon, he traces his steps back through abandoned villages and rotting corpses and through his own memories in search of his comrades. Song for Night is a lyrical, poignant journey through the nightmarish landscape of brutal war.