The Orchard of Lost Souls

The plight of women and girls in Somalia is the focus of this involving second novel by Mohamed, one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists and winner of the Betty Trask Prize for her debut, Black Mamba Boy. This story shifts among the viewpoints of nine-year-old Deqo; Filsan, a young female soldier; and Kawsar, a widow savaged by Filsan for trying to rescue Deqo from a beating. The year is 1987, the eve of the Somali civil war. Women are victimized because of their age, sex, and politics. Children are especially vulnerable, and there is a horrific scene in which blood is taken from them until they die, in order to provide transfusions for those on the "right" side of the cause. Women can also be brutes, and Filsan, despite her own suffering, is hard to like. Still, each character, in her drive to find safety and belonging, is fully realized and at least somewhat sympathetic, and the novel builds to an unlikely but satisfying ending when the three characters' paths cross again.