About the Author
A.B. Kyazze is a British–American writer and photographer. She spent nearly two decades writing and taking photographs around the world in conflicts and natural disasters – in Africa, Asia and Southern Europe. Her photographs and non-fiction work have been published in travel magazines, The Huffington Post, The Washington Times, The International Review of the Red Cross, and by Oxfam, Save the Children, and the British Red Cross.
Into the Mouth of the Lion, A.B. Kyazze’s debut novel, was published in May 2021. Set in the final days of Angola’s civil war, it is the story of a young photographer looking for her missing sister in a very dangerous landscape. This is followed by Ahead of the Shadows, published in September 2022. Ahead of the Shadows is set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan (Darfur) and Paris. It is the continuing story of humanitarian workers labouring under intense conditions, and how this can strain relationships to breaking point. It is also about the impact on the next generation, and how one unconventional boy might be able to break the cycle.
A.B. Kyazze has also published the Humanity in the Landscape photography book series, and a number of flash fiction short stories, articles and book reviews. Today, she lives in southeast London with her young family, writing, mentoring other writers, and running a freelance editing business.
In May 2022 A.B. Kyazze was awarded a London Borough of Culture grant as part of the We Are Lewisham initiative, in order to facilitate creative writing workshops in schools and libraries. She is a trustee for a new creative writing charity, the Oxford Centre for Fantasy. Follow @abkwriting on Twitter
About the book
When a photographer witnesses war crimes, will she have to abandon her calling to save herself?
As Lena and Kojo work in conflicts across East and Central Africa, there is immense psychological pressure, and it’s not certain if their relationship will survive.
Eighteen years later, Bene walks the gritty back streets of Paris for one night in a music festival. He is on his way to meet his father in Kenya, a man he’s never met.
Ahead of the Shadows is about the intense relationships that come from work in war zones, the transmission of trauma from one generation to the next, and how one unconventional boy might be able to break the cycle.
Review
I recently read another book about a person who volunteered in a war zone and in deprived areas. I think it's easy to experience awe in the presence of selflessness or when you are around someone who has ventured into the mouth of the beast. - I'd just like to point out that I know that sounds very much the response to white saviour actions, because it is in a way. The human beings who live in these situations and areas are often forgotten; despite the fact it is their reality.
This story, as does the first by this author, follows Lena, this time as she navigates the difficulty of working and volunteering in a war-torn country. It speaks to the trauma, the PTSD, the frustration and the helplessness people feel when they try to change the outcomes for so many vulnerable people and yet it is never enough.
Aside from the fear that becomes a constant companion there is also the apathy that sinks in after a while. The realisation that one person can do very little to change the status quo.
This time Lena connects in a variety of ways. She finds passionate love and simultaneously she feels deep guilt about leaving behind such pain and misery. The story for the reader begins with her son Bene starting his own journey to meet the father he has never met.
It's mixed bag of emotions, which have to be separated to some extent. There is the Lena who wants to change life for the victims of war, and then there is the Lena who has to make the best decision for herself - the two decisions overlap in no way other than Lena is on the middle of both scenarios.
The author opens the door to the uncomfortable and brutally frank moments behind the headlines the rest of the world often reads about but can never quite fathom what that means for victims or for the volunteers. It's a topic with a wealth of information and a story that is a riveting read.
Buy Ahead of the Shadows at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Publisher: Humanity in the Landscape Publishing; pub date 30 September 2022. Buy at Amazon com.
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