The Dragons, the Giant, the Women : A memoir of family, war and peace

A powerful and poignant memoir of survival and resistance by the critically acclaimed author of She Would Be King, about her family's dramatic escape from the Liberian Civil War, and how they were eventually reunited.

When Wayetu Moore turns five years old, her father and grandmother throw her a big party at their home in Monrovia, Liberia, but all she can think about is how much she misses her mother, who is working and studying in faraway New York. Before they can be reunited, war breaks out in Liberia. The family is forced to flee their home on foot, along a dangerous road, heading for the relative safety of their remote family village.

Here they will hide until a remarkable rescue by a rebel soldier who smuggles them across the border. Spanning this harrowing journey in Moore's early childhood, her years adjusting to life in the USA as a black woman and an immigrant, and her eventual return to Liberia, The Dragons, the Giant, the Women is an unforgettable story of the search for home in the midst of upheaval. In capturing both the hazy magic and the stark realities of what is an increasingly pervasive experience, Moore shines a light on the great political and personal forces that continue to affect many migrants around the world, and calls us all to acknowledge the tenacious power of love and family