Publisher Description

When Mavala Shikongo deserted them, the teachers at the boys' school in Goas weren't surprised. How could they be? She was too beautiful, too powerful, and too mysterious for their tiny, remote, and arid world. They knew only one essential fact about their departed colleague: she was a combat veteran of Namibia's brutal war for independence. When Mavala returns to Goas with a baby son, all are awed by her boldness. The teachers try hard, once again, not to fall in love with her. They fail, immediately and miserably, especially the American volunteer, Larry Kaplanski.

Author Biography

Peter Orner has received many prizes for his fiction writing including a Guggenheim Fellowship, although this is his first novel.

Review

'Fast, sharp and literate' - KIRKUS REVIEWS

Prizes

Winner of Bard Fiction Prize 2007
Commended for Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize 2006

Long Description

When Mavala Shikongo deserted them, the teachers at the boys' school in Goas weren't surprised. How could they be? She was too beautiful, too powerful, and too mysterious for their tiny, remote, and arid world. They knew only one essential fact about their departed colleague: she was a combat veteran of Namibia's brutal war for independence. When Mavala returns to Goas with a baby son, all are awed by her boldness. The teachers try hard, once again, not to fall in love with her. They fail, immediately and miserably, especially the American volunteer, Larry Kaplanski.

Review Quote

"Peter Orner's debut reads like a perfectly formed masterpiece of such idiosyncratic voice and story that I can't imagine my shelves now without it."-- Alexandra Fuller, author of

Details