River Spirit: the New Perspective of the Mahdi’s War
From a New York Times Notable Author and Caine Prize-winner, River Spirit will take you back to 1818 in Sudan. To the time and place when the Mahdi declared war.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “If there was only one day left in this world, Allah would extend that day so that He sends a man from me or from my family, whose name matches my name and whose father’s name matches my father’s name. He will fill the earth with equity and justice as it had been filled with tyranny and oppression.”—Sunan Abu Dawud
River Spirit is based on a true event, the Mahdi's War in Sudan, 1818. But, this book does not focus on that, instead, it focuses on the people who are affected by it, and how they react to this situation based on their background, their level of education, and their life experiences.
This book surprised me because of how real it felt. I almost thought that this book was not fiction. I loved how this book has multiple points of view because in that way, I—as a reader—could easily understand the reason some characters acted in a certain way. So far, for 2023, this is the best book that I've ever read. Highly recommended!
About the Book
The book can be found on Goodreads described as follows:
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publishing date: March 7, 2023
Synopsis:
The spellbinding new novel from New York Times Notable Author and Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela about an embattled young woman’s coming of age during the Mahdist War in 19th century Sudan.
Leila Aboulela, hailed as “a versatile prose stylist” (New York Times) has also been praised by J.M. Coetzee, Ali Smith, and Ben Okri, among others, for her rich and nuanced novels depicting Islamic spiritual and political life. Her new novel is an enchanting narrative of the years leading up to the British conquest of Sudan in 1898, and a deeply human look at the tensions between Britain and Sudan, Christianity and Islam, colonizer and colonized. In River Spirit, Aboulela gives us the unforgettable story of a people who — against the odds and for a brief time — gained independence from foreign rule through their willpower, subterfuge, and sacrifice.
When Akuany and her brother Bol are orphaned in a village raid in South Sudan, they’re taken in by a young merchant Yaseen who promises to care for them, a vow that tethers him to Akuany through their adulthood. As a revolutionary leader rises to power — the self-proclaimed Mahdi, prophesied redeemer of Islam — Sudan begins to slip from the grasp of Ottoman rule, and everyone must choose a side. A scholar of the Qur’an, Yaseen feels beholden to stand against this false Mahdi, even as his choice splinters his family. Meanwhile, Akuany moves through her young adulthood and across the country alone, sold and traded from house to house, with Yaseen as her inconsistent lifeline. Everything they are striving for — love, freedom, safety — is all on the line in the fight for Sudan.
Through the voices of seven men and women whose fates grow inextricably linked, Aboulela’s latest novel illuminates a fraught and bloody reckoning with the history of a people caught in the crosshairs of imperialism. River Spirit is a powerful tale of corruption, coming of age, and unshakeable devotion — to a cause, one’s faith, and the people who become family.
About the Author
Leila Aboulela can be found on Goodreads described as follows:
Leila Aboulela grew up in Khartoum, Sudan where she attended the Khartoum American School and Sister School. She graduated from Khartoum University in 1985 with a degree in Economics and was awarded her Masters degree in statistics from the London School of Economics. She lived for many years in Aberdeen where she wrote most of her works while looking after her family; she currently lives and lectures in Abu Dhabi.
She was awarded the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2000 for her short story The Museum and her novel The Translator was nominated for the Orange Prize in 2002, and was chosen as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times in 2006.
