About the book: 2022 / Mariatu lived happily with her family, friends and girlfriends in a small village in West Africa. But then civil war came to Sierra Leone. Heavily armed rebel troops attacked peaceful settlements, waging senseless terror. During one of these raids, a twelve-year-old girl had both hands cut off - and this was done by young fighters no older than herself, intoxicated by permissiveness and the false promises of corrupt leaders. Running away from the rebels through the forest, semi-delirious with pain, Mariatu was bleeding. But the sweet taste of mango - the first food after the attack, which a random stranger treated the girl to - revived her desire to survive.