From the turmoil of civil warin an unnamed Africancountry to academic life withall its rivalries and competitionat Harvard, America’stop Ivy League university,Nick McDonnell’s thirdnovel, An Expensive Education,creates compelling landscapes andcharacters.

The links are absorbing. AtHarvard, Professor Susan Lowell has won aPulitzer Prize for her book about Hatashil,an East African freedom fighter in the civilwar. Not everyone is happy with the book,and Susan receives a series of threats. Hersole African student, David Ayan, is missinghome and struggling to make sense ofHarvard’s cliques and clubs. His white girlfriend, Jane, is from a privileged backgroundand this also causes confusion and misunderstandings.Michael Teak, a Harvard graduate,is working as an American intelligenceoperative. He is in constant danger and wemeet him just before a horrendous massacrein Ayan’s relative’s village.

Nick McDonnellhas reported from both Sudan and Iraq andis acutely aware of the political and socialpressures that lead to poverty and bloodshed.An Expensive Education helps us to understandsome aspects of a troubled continent.