57.The Garden of Burning Sand - Corban Addison

Audio read by Robin Miles (there are lots of different accents, and she nailed every one of the, making the book even more realistic for me.)

12 unabridged cds (12.25 hrs.)

2013 Regulus Books, 2014 Recorded Books

448 pgs.

Adult Mystery

Finished 9/12/2014

Goodreads rating: 4.06

My rating:  4/I very much enjoyed this 

Setting: Contemporary Lusaka, Zambia

1st sentence/s:  "The girl walked alone on the darkened street.  Lights moved around her as cars drove by, their headlights shining on the dusty roadway.  But no one seemed to notice her or care that she was alone.  Her gait was steady but her steps were irregular since one of her legs was shorter than the other."

A good quote:  "Life is a broken thing.  It's what we do with the pieces that defines us."

My comments:  The best part about this book?  Getting to know contemporary Africa a bit.  This book is set in Lusaka, Zambia with forays to Livingtone and Victoria Falls.  The protagonist, Zoe Fleming, is an ex-pat whose father just happens to be running for president of the United States.  The story centers around an orphaned teenager with Down's Syndrome who has been raped, and Zoe's legal team gathering evidence to prosecute her rapist.  Many issues are thoroughly examined...AIDS and HIV, rape (not only in Africa, but in the US, since part of Zoe's past includes this), the culture of Zambia including the gaping socio-economic differences, medicine man/voodoo (my words) beliefs, and the realities of rich (country) vs. poor (country).  Disadvantaged vs. Advantaged.  I enjoyed listening to this book a great deal.

Goodreads book summary: Zoe Fleming is an American attorney working with an NGO devoted to combating child sexual assault in Lusaka, Zambia. When an adolescent girl is raped in the dark of night and delivered by strangers to the hospital, Zoe’s organization is called in to help.
          Working alongside Zambian police officer Joseph Kabuta, Zoe learns that the girl’s assailant was not a street kid or a pedophile but the son of a powerful industrialist with deep ties to the Zambian government. As the prosecution against him grinds forward, hampered by systemic corruption and bureaucratic inertia, Zoe and Joseph’s search for the truth takes them from Lusaka’s roughest neighborhoods to the wild waters of Victoria Falls, to the AIDS-ridden streets of Johannesburg and the splendour of Cape Town.
           As the rape trial builds to a climax and sends shockwaves through Zambian society, Zoe must radically reshape her assumptions about love, loyalty, family—and, especially, the meaning of justice.