Valentina Achak Deng

Valentino is the main character and the narrator of the book. He was born in Southern Sudan in a village called Marial Bai. He describes his village and Sudan as a few hundreds years behind the western world. Despite this, Valentino's early life is relatively comfortable. He goes to school to learn English and every Sunday, he worships at a Christian church. His family is big because his father, like most southern men in Sudan, has many wives. Many children in Southern Sudan do not know who their mother is and regard all their father's wives as their mother. However, Valentino does know. She is his father's first wife and one of the village's midwives. His relatively comfortable upbringing has a lot to do with his father's solid status within the village. He owns many shops and does his best to get on with the Muslim...