Lost Girl Found by Leah Bassoff (review)

While the Lost Boys of Sudan have received public attention, very little has been paid to the girls who were caught in the crossfires and complexities of the Sudanese conflict. This novel follows the life of such a girl, Poni, a young Didinga girl living in southern Sudan. Even before the war, Poni’s life is filled with much strife, due in large part to her frustration with the limitations placed upon her by gender; she is determined to get an education and to avoid being forced into marriage, despite the expectations of her tribe. When her village is attacked, she escapes and walks for weeks, amid constant death and destruction, until she arrives at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. After many months at the camp, she leaves Kakuma and travels to Nairobi, where she is taken in by Sister Hannah and promised an education in exchange for hard work. The plot is both riveting and at times chilling (particularly the graphic depictions of violence and death), but it is Poni herself who carries the novel; there is a detached sadness to her narration that exudes both despair and depth, and the rich imagery and carefully crafted details further elevate the tone. As a note explains, Bassof, a writer, and DeLuca, an anthropologist, met at a conference about Sudan and decided to cowrite this novel to give a female voice to the story of Sudanese refugees, and Poni’s character is a composite of the many stories they heard in their research. This is girl power in its truest form, and Poni’s story is certain to profoundly impact all who take it in. An author’s note, timeline, list of further reading/viewing, and glossary are included.