Click Here to see all our books The Book OrphanageRunning the Rift by Naomi Benaron
Jean Patrick sprinted as hard as he could up the ridge. A reddish haze hung in the air and coated the brush. A blue turaco exploded into flight, its beak a flare of red and yellow. A bell tinkled in the clearing. It was Papa's inyambo steer, watching him with sleepy eyes, a clump of grass between his teeth. With a flash of understanding that took his breath, he saw that his father lived in all that surrounded him, and that every breath of wind contained his father's blessing.
Running fix Rift follows the progress of Jean Patrick Nkuha from the day he knows that running will be his life to the moment he must run to save his life. A naturally gifted athlete, he sprints over the thousand hills of Rwanda and dreams of becoming his country's first Olympic medal winner in track. But Jean Patrick is a Masi in a world that has become increasingly restrictive and violent for his people. As tensions mount between the Hutu and Tutsi, he holds fast to his dream that running might deliver him, and his people, from the brutality around them. But the day comes when he realizes there is only one way he can continue competing, and suddenly he's thrust into a world whcrc it's impossible to stay apolitical—where the man who sold him bread a few weeks ago now spews hatred, where an identity card bearing the right word becomes his most prized possession. and whcrc the woman he loves may be lost to him forever. Winner of the Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, Naomi Benaron
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