A review by thewakeless
The Orchard of Lost Souls by Nadifa Mohamed

3.75

 Set against the backdrop of the start of the Somalian Civil War this story follows three women, a refugee orphan, a 30 year old soldier, and a 60ish women who's family is left disabled after being arrested and who's family is all dead. The book is at point brutal, but very beautiful. I feel like the author has a specific talent for bringing attention to detail, and has a talent for scensory descriptions. I think the start and end of the book are a bit clumsy (these are the points where the women's stories intersect) but I like the idea of her wanting to write a story in which they all survive and end up together, as a family, that is touching. Each of the women's stories is complex, particularly that of the soldier, there is so much brutality that they endure and that they then emulate.