From Well-Read Black Girl Books, a "wise and witty, unflinchingly honest and insightful" (Maaza Mengiste) novel that delves into the secret lives of three women on the eve of Eritrean independence. The year is 1991. Eritrea is on the verge of liberation from Ethiopian rule and in Washington, D.C.'s tight-knit Eritrean community, change is in the air. Thirteen-year-old Lydia and her family are grappling with what peace after decades of war might mean for their future, just as they welcome Berekhet-a distant cousin newly arrived from Ethiopia to attend medical school in the States. With him comes a barrage of new ideas Lydia must confront for the first time, about the stories of nationhood and family she was raised on. Meanwhile her mother, Elsa, a former rebel fighter, and the family matriarch, Mama Zewdi, must grapple with regrets long buried in the time their country has been at war. Elsa's path from Eritrea to D.C. was paved with courage and loss, and figures from her past on the front lines of battle ...