This is about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s and mainly follows some of the Ethiopians who are fighting against them. I knew basically nothing about this war, so it was a really instructive novel for me to pick up. It was an unsettling read, but I found the characters compelling and highly believable, which kept me reading with interest. 

Mengiste has other bits of storytelling woven in throughout the novel, all of which I really liked and helped to paint a picture. I particularly liked her descriptions of the photos that were taken, she has an amazing way with words and can really give you a strong image of what the photos looked like. I also really liked the inlcusion of the POV from the Italian colonel Carlo Fucelli - without this I would have really struggled to follow the plot of the novel. 

However, I did find the plot dragged a little, and sometimes the prose left me quite confused as to what was actually going on. The writing is beautiful but at times, perhaps at the expense of a really compelling story. 

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