Little Bee by Chris Cleave

In 2005 two women meet on a beach in Nigeria. Sarah, a successful journalist from England, is trying to save her marriage. Little Bee, really too young in years to be called a woman, is trying to save her life. An act that is either courageous or foolish propels them on a course on which they are destined to meet again. One wonders how this British male author is able to so accurately and compellingly portray these two people. You can picture them, you can hear them and you so desperately know that you can not save them. In one of my favorite lines, and there are many, Bee describes the people of her village as living "happily without hope". Having spent time in West Africa, this phrase is as accurate as any I have heard to explain the mystery and frustration of African development.