The National Book award finalist puts a human face on the AIDS crisis in Africa with this account of an Ethiopian widow who welcomed over sixty AIDS orphaned children into her home, caring for them and helping to place them with new families.
A powerful and ongoing story of hope in the face of despair, it is at its heart simply about children and parents, wherever they may be and however they may find each other.
Reviews
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Melissa Fay Greene documents the tragic lives of the children of Ethiopian AIDS victims. Greene focuses on the efforts of Haregowoin Teferra and her orphanage while chronicling how the Ethiopian government and much of the world ignore these innocent children. Greene herself has adopted two children from the orphanage. The highly personal book is read with intensity by Julie Fain Lawrence. Lawrence's emphasis of key phrases and critical events allows listeners to share in what Greene calls "an unfolding disaster." Despite the nature of the material, the story also celebrates the human spirit, and Lawrence's style allows listeners to share Greene's belief that these children can survive, and thrive, in a world that prefers to ignore them. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
About the Author
MELISSA FAY GREENE is a journalist and the award-winning author of Praying for Sheetrock, The Temple Bombing, and Last Man Out. She has written for the New Yorker, the Washington Post, and the New York Times Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Newsweek, Redbook, Salon.com, and others. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and children, two of whom were adopted from Ethiopia.
