CHILDREN OF THE MOON

For readers of Khaled Hosseini, Jennifer Clement's Prayers for the Stolen, and Beasts of No Nation

In the wispy grasslands of Tanzania in the 1950s, a Maasai woman gives birth to a miracle. The other villagers see the baby as a curse. The baby--a daughter, named Kibo--has skin as white as bone, and from her first moments on earth, she is forced to claim her life in spite of the violence she incites. As she grows, Kibo sheds her identity to become Liloe, and then Po, continuously trying to adjust herself so that she can fit into the world around her.

Further south, in Portuguese-occupied Mozambique, a young boy, Ezequiel, has been adopted by two missionaries. Zeca, too, struggles with a lack of acceptance. Not recognized by his Portuguese father's community, or by his Makonde mother's tribe, Zeca lives his life on the borders of both worlds. And when civil war erupts in Mozambique, Zeca must choose what--and who--he is willing to leave behind.

A stunning exploration of the costs of war, and a tender narrative of love and redemption, Children of the Moon is a startlingly truthful portrait of two outsiders, coming together in a time of momentous change.

Anthony De Sa grew up in Toronto's Portuguese community. His short fiction has been published in several North American literary magazines. Anthony's first book, Barnacle Love, was critically acclaimed and became a finalist for the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2009 Toronto Book Award. Anthony's debut novel, Kicking the Sky, is set in 1977, the year a twelve-year-old shoeshine boy named Emanuel Jaques was brutally raped and murdered in Toronto. Anthony graduated from University of Toronto and did his post-graduate work at Queen's University. He attended The Humber School for Writers and Ryerson University. He lives in Toronto with his wife and three boys, where he is currently a teacher-librarian at Michael Power/St. Joseph High School.