Diamond Boy

At the insistence of his wife, Patson’s father has packed up the family and moved them to Marange, where the diamond fields promise riches for everyone willing to dig for them. Patson is eager to devote himself to mining, positive that his girazi awaits, and that someday soon his family can leave Marange and start a new life. But when President Mugabe’s soldiers arrive to take control of the mines, Patson’s family is ripped apart and life changes forever. Now, as Patson struggles to heal from the violence and cruelty of Mugabe’s soldiers, he is desperate to escape Marange and go find his sister, who seems to have been kidnapped.

Michael Williams’s Diamond Boy is one of the most intense novels I’ve read in a long, long time, and I mean that in the best way possible. This story offers readers a fascinating glimpse into the recent history of Zimbabwe, and if it seems a bit slow at first, get ready to get sucked in for quite a ride. Your heart will break as Patson’s life shatters, and you will be on the edge of your seat as he follows his sister into South Africa, desperate to rescue her from an uncertain future. This is an amazing book!