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The Shadow King

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2020

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The Shadow King

By: Maaza Mengiste
Narrated by: Robin Miles
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LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2020 ‘DEVASTATING’ Marlon James, ‘A MODERN CLASSIC’ Andrew Sean Greer, ‘INCREDIBLE’ Lemn Sissay, ‘BRILLIANT’ Salman Rushdie, ‘MAGNIFICIENT’ Aminatta Forna, ‘EPIC’ Mary Morris, ‘WONDERFUL’ Laila Lalami, ‘UNFORGETTABLE’ The Times, ‘REMARKABLE’ New York Times, 'A MASTERPIECE' Washington Post ETHIOPIA. 1935. With the threat of Mussolini’s army looming, recently orphaned Hirut struggles to adapt to her new life as a maid. Her new employer, Kidane, an officer in Emperor Haile Selassie’s army, rushes to mobilise his strongest men before the Italians invade. Hirut and the other women long to do more than care for the wounded and bury the dead. When Emperor Haile Selassie goes into exile and Ethiopia quickly loses hope, it is Hirut who offers a plan to maintain morale. She helps disguise a gentle peasant as the emperor and soon becomes his guard, inspiring other women to take up arms. But how could she have predicted her own personal war, still to come, as a prisoner of one of Italy’s most vicious officers? The Shadow King is a gorgeously crafted and unputdownable exploration of female power, and what it means to be a woman at war. Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Africa Italy War
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Could not get connected with the characters, found it hard to care what happened to them.

Difficult to follow

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A difficult listen on many levels but we should never forget our shameful histories.
I cried more than once
Thank you Maaza for bearing a belated witness in such a brutally honest but eloquent way. Very few books have left such an impression on me. Brilliant! Thank you

Brilliant telling of a disturbing history

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An amazing story of the women soldiers who fought against the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. Haunting and lyrical. Every character is well developed.

Ethiopia

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the author's final words. women's importance in all wars is never truly recognized nor appreciated.

So true,

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I chose this because it looked like the most interesting story on the Booker longlist - and I wasn't disappointed. Like Kate Grenville, the author takes inspiration from some family history to tell the incredible story of female soldiers in Ethiopia. There's some cracking lines about dealing with colonialisation, a few of my favourites were: 'Make living your first act of defiance' and 'Only soil will remember who we are. Nothing but earth is strong enough to withstand the burden of memory'. Reading is about temporarily escaping the cosy rut of your own existence and seeing the world through someone else's eyes. I knew nothing about Ethiopia in the 1930s but I do now. This is also a very topical book in terms of unheard stories and perspectives.

A gun that has tasted blood wants more...

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