Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the Schutzruppe askari, the German colonial troops; he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away. Hamza was not stolen, but was sold; he has come of age in the schutztruppe, at the right hand of an officer whose control has ensured his protection but marked him for life. A shatteringly powerful novel about a forgotten piece of Africa colonial history.