[1] Set amidst the dawn of peace in Sierra Leone after a decade-long civil war, the lives of Elias Cole, Adrian Lockheart, and Kai Mansaray intersect in a city hospital as they struggle with their turbulent pasts.

As their stories unfold, old acquaintances resurface, secrets unravel, and relationships are tested, culminating in revelations and attempts at redemption amidst the lingering shadows of the past.

[2] Maaza Mengiste wrote in The New York Times: "Forna's first work of fiction, 'Ancestor Stones,' was an accomplished collection of interconnected stories.

... She forces us to see past bland categorizations like 'postcolonial African literature,' showing that the world we inhabit reaches beyond borders and ripples out through generations.

And she writes to expose what remains after all the noise has faded: at the core of this novel is the brave and beating heart, at once vulnerable and determined, unwilling to let go of all it has ever loved.