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WORK TITLE: City of Saints and Thieves
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.nataliecanderson.com/
CITY: Geneva
STATE:
COUNTRY: Switzerland
NATIONALITY: American
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2145703/natalie-c-anderson * http://www.nataliecanderson.com/about.html * http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-qa-natalie-c-anderson-35552
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married.
EDUCATION:Has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and international development professional. Associates of the Boston Public Library, Boston, MA, children’s writer-in-residence, 2014-15. Has worked with the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations. Has also worked variously as a bartender, leatherworker, and social worker.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Natalie C. Anderson is an international development professional and writer. Born in the United States, Anderson has worked for the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations in African countries and other locations. Her work is focused on development and refugee relief. Anderson is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland. From 2014 to 2015, she served as the children’s writer-in-residence for the Associates of the Boston Public Library. During this time, she wrote her first novel, City of Saints and Thieves.
City of Saints and Thieves was released in 2017. In it, Anderson draws from her experience working with refugees in Kenya. In an interview with Jessica Stauffer for the American Booksellers Association Web site, Anderson stated: “I didn’t actually start writing City of Saints and Thieves until I’d been back in the U.S. for a while and was able to reflect back on the stories I’d heard. They were truly incredible, but I wanted to be able to put them into fiction in a way that didn’t seem exploitive or make the violence gratuitous. And I knew I wanted to make the story YA, because there wasn’t anything like this out there, even though what I’d heard was every bit as compelling and engrossing as any dystopian or post-apocalyptic world.” Anderson continued: “I very purposefully made the story a thriller-mystery because I wanted the subject matter to be accessible and the story to feel exciting. I didn’t want it to feel like an issue book. I wanted people to keep turning pages and stay interested, and maybe learn a thing or two about real-life issues at the same time.”
The protagonist of City of Saints and Thieves is a teenage Congolese refugee named Tina, who is living in Sangui City, Kenya. Her mother was killed at Roland Greyhill’s mansion, where she worked, and Tina vows to avenge her death. She also must protect Kiki, her half-sister, a product of their mother’s relationship with Greyhill. After having lived on the streets for a time, Tina has become part of a gang of other homeless kids called the Goondas. Members of the gang allow her to begin training as a foot soldier, though that position is typically only filled by boys. Tina maintains a list of rules she learns through her training and from other aspects of her life. She eventually begins working as a thief and proves to have talent in that area. Meanwhile, she develops a revenge plot. Tina initially believes that Greyhill, a corrupt businessman, was responsible for her mother’s death. However, when she meets another child of Greyhill’s, Michael, he convinces her that the killer must have been someone else. Tina and Michael decide to work together to find the real murderer. They also enlist the help of a technologically gifted kid called Boyboy. Their investigation takes them to Congo, where they look into corruption connected to the mining industry there and are confronted with various dangerous situations.
Deborah Hopkinson, a reviewer in BookPage, commented: “In Tina, author Natalie C. Anderson has created an unforgettable heroine, who … leaps off the page as a distinct individual, both strong and vulnerable.” “The nicely twisted climax is wholly believable, and readers will be sorry to leave Tina,” asserted Debbie Carton in Booklist. A Kirkus Reviews critic described City of Saints and Thieves as “a story full of twists and turns, proving nothing is ever as black and white as it may seem.” A writer in Publishers Weekly remarked: “Anderson adeptly uses language to bring Tina’s world to life as she carefully traces her heroine’s history.” Stephanie Klose, a contributor to School Library Journal, called the book “highly recommended for teens looking for a gritty, suspenseful, immersive read driven by a tough, smart, realistic heroine.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, January 1, 2017, Debbie Carton, review of City of Saints and Thieves, p. 76.
BookPage, February, 2017, Deborah Hopkinson, review of City of Saints and Thieves, p. 27.
Horn Book, March-April, 2017, Sarah Hannah Gomez, review of City of Saints and Thieves, p. 83.
Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2016, review of City of Saints and Thieves.
Publishers Weekly, November 7, 2016, review of City of Saints and Thieves, p. 62.
School Library Journal, January, 2017, Stephanie Klose, review of City of Saints and Thieves, p. 96.
ONLINE
American Booksellers Association Web site, http://www.bookweb.org/ (February 6, 2017), Jessica Stauffer, author interview.
Natalie C. Anderson Home Page, http://www.nataliecanderson.com/ (July 18, 2017).*
Natalie C. Anderson is an American writer and international development professional living in Geneva, Switzerland. She has spent the last decade working with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)and the United Nations on refugee relief and development, mainly in Africa. She was selected as the 2014–2015 Associates of the Boston Public Library Children’s Writer-in-Residence, where she wrote her debut novel, City of Saints and Thieves.
QUOTED: "I didn’t actually start writing City of Saints & Thieves until I’d been back in the U.S. for a while and was able to reflect back on the stories I’d heard. They were truly incredible, but I wanted to be able to put them into fiction in a way that didn’t seem exploitive or make the violence gratuitous. And I knew I wanted to make the story YA, because there wasn’t anything like this out there, even though what I’d heard was every bit as compelling and engrossing as any dystopian or post-apocalyptic world."
"I very purposefully made the story a thriller-mystery because I wanted the subject matter to be accessible and the story to feel exciting. I didn’t want it to feel like an issue book. I wanted people to keep turning pages and stay interested, and maybe learn a thing or two about real-life issues at the same time."
An Indies Introduce Q&A With Natalie C. Anderson
By Jessica Stauffer on Monday, Feb 06, 2017
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Natalie C Anderson, author of City of Saints & Thieves
Photo by Karina Photography
Natalie C. Anderson is the author of City of Saints & Thieves (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers), a Winter/Spring 2017 Indies Introduce debut novel for young adults and a Winter 2016–2017 Kids’ Indie Next List pick.
Romy Griepp of Once Upon a Time in Montrose, California, who served on the Indies Introduce Middle Grade/Young Adult Debut panel, was drawn into the novel, a murder mystery set in Kenya, not only by the main character, Tina, but also by Anderson’s strong secondary characters.
“Anderson’s ensemble cast of characters is dazzling in its scope and depth, a skill that is only exceeded by her crafting of Tina,” said Griepp. “Resourceful and loyal, Tina is a young woman burdened by the mantle of adulthood too soon, who does whatever she must to outsmart her enemies, avenge her mother, and protect herself. This is a powerful narrative that explores human resilience and loyalty in the face of unspeakable oppression.”
American-born Anderson lives in Geneva, Switzerland. While her resume includes leatherworker, bartender, and social worker, Anderson has spent the past decade working on refugee issues in Africa and throughout the world.
Griepp recently had the opportunity to ask Anderson a few questions about City of Saints & Thieves.
Romy Griepp: You earned your bachelor’s degree in international studies, African studies, and political science and your master’s in forced migration. As an international aid worker, what prompted you to write a young adult novel, specifically a young adult mystery?
Natalie C. Anderson: For three years, my job was to interview refugees who were under consideration for resettlement to the U.S. (part of the process of vetting that you may have heard about in the news recently). I was based in Kenya, but traveled all over Africa. The stories that I heard were incredibly intense, and as a way to clear my head at the end of the day I started reading a lot of kid lit. And I’ve always loved to write, so that was a natural next step.
I wrote a super-long, plotless middle-grade book that will stay forever tucked in the back drawer. It was terrible, but writing it was excellent for my mental health! I didn’t actually start writing City of Saints & Thieves until I’d been back in the U.S. for a while and was able to reflect back on the stories I’d heard. They were truly incredible, but I wanted to be able to put them into fiction in a way that didn’t seem exploitive or make the violence gratuitous. And I knew I wanted to make the story YA, because there wasn’t anything like this out there, even though what I’d heard was every bit as compelling and engrossing as any dystopian or post-apocalyptic world.
I very purposefully made the story a thriller-mystery because I wanted the subject matter to be accessible and the story to feel exciting. I didn’t want it to feel like an issue book. I wanted people to keep turning pages and stay interested, and maybe learn a thing or two about real-life issues at the same time.
RG: Tina is such an incredible lead character. How did she spring into existence? Is she inspired by someone you know or created as someone you wished into existence?
NCA: Tina came from wanting to write a story about a girl who was sort of a modern African Robin Hood. She morphed from there, but I tried to imagine what it would take for a girl to survive on her own on the often tough streets of a place like Nairobi (where I had lived). She would have to be hard, fierce, and independent, so what would make her that way? What would compel her to become a really good thief? Her back story unwound from there. While doing interviews, I met a ton of tough, smart, savvy girls like Tina who had been through some terrible things, but who were still so much more than those events. They were poets and football players and math whizzes. I wanted Tina to be like that — someone dogged by an inescapable past, but who was very much her own self-created person.
RG: There is rarely an opportunity to enjoy an ensemble of characters as varied and well-crafted as yours. How does this group work both together and individually to further the narrative as well as Tina’s personal journey? Do you have a favorite character?
NCA: Thank you! I loved these characters — even the villainous ones. It was hard to leave them! At some point I got the very good advice that you have to think just as hard about all the secondary characters’ motivations as you do about the main characters’. And in this case, on top of that, everyone needed to be essential to the mission. Everyone has to bring a skill or resource to the table (Michael has money and connections, Boyboy has his IT skills, the Goondas have muscle). Otherwise, why are they there? And under the surface, each had their own very personal motivations pushing them along, which all eventually linked into Tina’s story. Once you have that, everything sort of flows from it. Hopefully!
Boyboy is my favorite character for sure — he’s definitely the most emotionally mature of the trio (Tina, Michael, and him) and I can just hear his internal running commentary as he watches Tina and Michael fumble through trying to be emotionally competent humans. I was careful to try to avoid making him just another “gay BFF” — he’s essential to the whole plot. Tina needs his skills and, in the end, his maturity. (And on a personal note, I appreciated having him there because my favorite method of procrastination was to make Pinterest boards of fashion Boyboy would be into. The links are all on my website if anyone’s interested!)
RG: Poverty, militarization, and a massive refugee crisis are just a few of the real-world issues in Tina’s story, and one of the most compelling elements of your novel is its reality. As someone intimately familiar with African current events, especially in Kenya, why do you think this is essential to your story? Furthermore, why do you think young adult literature has a place in shaping discussion of real-world issues?
NCA: I think reality belongs in YA fiction for two reasons. One: As I mentioned above, I think some of the real-life dramas are just as exciting and compelling as fictional ones. That may make some people cringe, but let’s get real. Why should we know more about the district politics of [The Hunger Games’] Panem than we do about the politics of asylum in Europe? I think sometimes we’re reluctant to engage with current events like we do fictional ones because reality can be so much more complex and depressing, and can leave you feeling helpless. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t dig in there and engage and fight, because it really is possible to make a difference. And we need to do that now more than ever.
Which brings me to reason two: That reality belongs in YA. Young-adult readers are some of the most passionate, creative, energetic, and empathetic people on earth. I think people love YA because a lot of it is about fighting for what you believe in against great odds. People are looking for ways to be part of the “resistance” and equipping these readers with the knowledge and tools to fight smart battles seems like a no-brainer. The news is obviously out there as a resource, but in my opinion, nothing illuminates big issues like a small, individual, human story.
RG: In your story, as in life, choices are not always well made nor morals perfectly oriented. Questionable decisions are made by questionable people. Can you elaborate on this ethical ambiguity and how you decided to craft a novel rooted in moral complexity? Is there a moment, in your life or in the characters’ lives, that shaped this exploration?
NCA: It’s funny — for a while there, I was so steeped in moral ambiguity through listening to refugee stories that I wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted to read books and watch movies where I could firmly come down on one side or the other. Good-guy/bad-guy action movies became a big favorite. But with time to reflect, it’s impossible to get away from the fact that humans are complex creatures. We’re constantly at war with our emotional vs. rational selves. I found that especially true looking into something like the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s hard to put a finger on who’s good and who’s bad. And then, of course, even among the “bad” there are regular, decent people who are on the “bad” side because of an accident of birth.
I used to hear a lot of stories from Eritrean refugees. Typically, if you’ve done something wrong in the eyes of the government, you get tossed in jail indefinitely (horrible, filthy, middle-of-the-desert jails, where torture is common). But I also heard countless stories from those same refugees about sympathetic guards who would allow captives to escape at risk to their own lives. At the end of the day, I do think that having a moral compass is essential. But moral ambiguity is what makes us human, and I would say is even what makes us empathetic to the bad guys, which is just as essential.
City of Saints & Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, Hardcover, 9780399547584) Publication Date: January 10, 2017.
Learn more about the author at nataliecanderson.com.
ABA member stores are invited to use this interview or any others in our series of Q&As with Indies Introduce debut authors in newsletters and social media and in online and in-store promotions. Please let us know if you do.
- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-qa-natalie-c-anderson-35552#sthash.QtnsnJle.dpuf
Picture
The serious bio:
Natalie C Anderson is an American writer and international development professional based in Geneva, Switzerland with her husband. You can also sometimes find her in the mountains of North Carolina or Nairobi, Kenya. She's spent the last decade working NGOs and the UN on refugee issues around the world, mainly Africa.
Natalie was selected as the 2014-2015 Associates of the Boston Public Library Children's Writer-in-Residence. She is represented by Faye Bender, of The Book Group.
Her debut YA novel, CITY OF SAINTS AND THIEVES published in January, 2017 with G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
photo by: Oh, Karina Photography
The real deal:
I grew up quasi-feral in a lush pocket of the Appalachian Mountains. Even though I haven't lived there since I was 16, if you ask, that's home. The two main rules growing up in my house were do your homework and don't lie. Everything else was up for persuasive argument. Our home was a magnet for errant animals and at some point we became known as the people who will taxidermy road-kill if you bring them something interesting. I went to art school, was a university drop out for a while, did AmeriCorps in Seattle, finished school, did some more school, lived in Africa for a long time, was a leatherworker, a bartender and a social worker at various points. I married a very handsome and charming man. I have stamps for cool places like Djibouti and Brunei in my passport. (boo-yah! (I know, no one says boo-yah anymore. That's how old I am)) I like to play in the dirt. I like salt so much that my husband once got me a salt lick for Christmas. My favorite thing to do is probably eat food. I wrote a book. I hope you like it. ~The End~
Natalie C. Anderson is an American writer and international development professional living in Geneva, Switzerland. She has spent the last decade working with NGOs and the UN on refugee relief and development, mainly in Africa. She was selected as the 2014-2015 Associates of the Boston Public Library Children's Writer in Residence, where she wrote her debut novel, City of Saints and Thieves.
City of Saints & Thieves
Sarah Hannah Gomez
93.2 (March-April 2017): p83.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
City of Saints & Thieves
by Natalie C. Anderson
High School Putnam 409 pp.
1/17 978-0-39954-758-4 $18.99 g
After her mother was murdered in cold blood by Roland Greyhill, a white mining tycoon and the father of Tina's half-sister Kiki, Tina made a run for it. She deposited Kiki at a boarding school in town, while Tina herself joined the Goondas, a dangerous gang. But when Tina breaks into Mr. Greyhill's study to hack his bank accounts, she is caught by his son Michael, with whom she grew up. Michael insists his father is not a murderer, and against her better judgment, Tina agrees to work with Michael to clear his father's name and find her mother's true killer. Their investigation leads them away from their home of Sangui City, Kenya, back to Congo, where Tina was born. Mr. Greyhill may not be the killer, but his mining company and former associates seem to be involved in a years-long conspiracy against the people of Africa. Anderson's dark thriller will appeal to readers who prefer their mysteries political and their stakes high and who will feel rewarded by solutions in shades of gray rather than black and white. A useful and heartfelt appended author's note gives more context ("Much of this story is based on real events affecting real people") and explains what was imagined by the author ("Things that are not real: the characters, plot, Sangui City ... are all from my imagination ... For those who know Kenya, you can imagine Sangui City as a mix of Mombasa's beauty and Nairobi's hustle"). Glossaries of Swahili and French words are appended.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Gomez, Sarah Hannah. "City of Saints & Thieves." The Horn Book Magazine, Mar.-Apr. 2017, p. 83+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA485970950&it=r&asid=6d020337b25bf09996108431bd760136. Accessed 21 June 2017.
QUOTED: "In Tina, author Natalie C. Anderson has created an unforgettable heroine, who ... leaps off the page as a distinct individual, both strong and vulnerable."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485970950
City of Saints & Thieves
Deborah Hopkinson
(Feb. 2017): p27.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 BookPage
http://bookpage.com/
CITY OF SAINTS & THIEVES
By Natalie C. Anderson
Putnam
$18.99, 432 pages
ISBN 9780399547584
Audio, eBook available
Ages 12 and up
THRILLER
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Sixteen-year-old Tina lives by the skin of her teeth as a Goonda, a member of the gang of thieves operating in Sangui City (a fictional place in East Africa). Although she has erased most of her past, Tina secretly visits her younger sister, Kiki, at her boarding school. But she has cut ties with the Greyhill family, for whom her mother, Anju, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, once worked as a maid. Except that now Tina hopes to prove what she has long suspected, that mining executive Roland Greyhill is responsible for her mother's murder.
When Tina breaks into the Greyhill mansion, she is caught by Roland's son, Michael, her childhood friend. Convinced that his father is innocent, Michael persuades Tina to try to look for the real killer. Michael and Tina, along with fellow thief Boyboy, embark on a perilous search to unravel Anju's tortuous past--a search that brings them into the midst of unrest and violence.
In Tina, author Natalie C. Anderson has created an unforgettable heroine, who, like Katniss Everdeen and Lisbeth Salander, leaps off the page as a distinct individual, both strong and vulnerable. Tina's passions--her love for her sister, a desire for revenge and her growing feelings for Michael--drive the narrative forward at breakneck speed.
Anderson drew from stories she heard firsthand while working with refugees in Kenya. While the story is fiction, there is a sobering authenticity in its themes of war, refugees, poverty and violence against women, which are sure to generate discussion in and out of the classroom.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hopkinson, Deborah. "City of Saints & Thieves." BookPage, Feb. 2017, p. 27. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA479076939&it=r&asid=cf82351c57b9d87702cfdf4bce5c3153. Accessed 21 June 2017.
QUOTED: "The nicely twisted climax is wholly believable, and readers will be sorry to leave Tina."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A479076939
City of Saints & Thieves
Debbie Carton
113.9-10 (Jan. 1, 2017): p76.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
* City of Saints & Thieves. By Natalie C. Anderson. Jan. 2017.432p. Putnam, $ 18.99 (9780399547584). Gr. 8-11.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
"If you're going to be a thief, the first thing you need to know is that you don't exist." So begins Congo refugee and Kenyan street gang member Tina's gripping narrative, a wonderfully twisted puzzle of a murder mystery. Six years ago, Tina's mother, maid to wealthy Mr. Greyhill, was murdered in his study. Eleven-year-old Tina got her half sister Kiki (Mr. Greyhill's daughter) a scholarship at a convent school and then disappeared into the streets of Sangui City, where she joined the Goonda gang. Here Tina refined her skills as a thief while carefully plotting revenge on Greyhill, whom she has good reason to believe murdered her mother. Now 17, Tina is ready to put the plan into action by blackmailing and then killing her mother's assassin. Anderson, who has worked with refugee relief and development in Africa, addresses issues of race, class, and gender as intrinsic plot elements. Tina's gay friend BoyBoy is an especially sympathetic and compelling character who refuses to join the Goondas, yet lends his computer skills to their many heists. Greyhill's son Michael, Tina's childhood playmate, is now both her captor and maybe her love interest, highlighting the tremendous gap between wealth and poverty and the resulting power dynamics. The nicely twisted climax is wholly believable, and readers will be sorry to leave Tina, whose fierce loyalty to family drives her courageous actions. --Debbie Carton
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Carton, Debbie. "City of Saints & Thieves." Booklist, 1 Jan. 2017, p. 76. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA479078088&it=r&asid=8d218b234321740d6398567767de356a. Accessed 21 June 2017.
QUOTED: "a story full of twists and turns, proving nothing is ever as black and white as it may seem."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A479078088
Anderson, Natalie C.: CITY OF SAINTS & THIEVES
(Dec. 1, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Anderson, Natalie C. CITY OF SAINTS & THIEVES Putnam (Children's Fiction) $18.99 1, 24 ISBN: 978-0-399-54758-4
Anderson's debut mystery novel features a Congolese teenager bent on revenge.In fictional Sangui City, Kenya, lives 16-year-old Tina, a black Congolese refugee. Tina has two purposes in life: take care of her mixed-race half sister, Kiki, and avenge their mother's death. Five years ago, Mama was murdered, and Tina believes the culprit can only be the rich and corrupt Mr. Greyhill, her mother's white former employer and lover. To survive, Tina has embedded herself as the wiliest of thieves within the ranks of the Goondas, a powerful gang in the city. After a Goonda heist on Mr. Greyhill goes wrong, Tina finds herself in cahoots with his mixed-race son, Michael, to find the true murderer. Michael wants to prove it wasn't his father, and Tina goes along with it so that she can resume her plan for vengeance. Along with her black tech genius partner in crime, Boyboy, they find themselves in the depths of Congo, looking for answers that could cost them their lives. The narrative is guided by Tina's rules for survival, which reveal a strong yet vulnerable character. While much of the novel is fictionalized, it exposes both the very real corruption and greed of the mining industry in Congo and the women who pay the price. The novel is peppered with Swahili words and phrases, and Anderson makes an effort to paint a picture of the country. A story full of twists and turns, proving nothing is ever as black and white as it may seem. (glossary) (Thriller. 12-16)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Anderson, Natalie C.: CITY OF SAINTS & THIEVES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA471901943&it=r&asid=40466c754d729d00bc287777c50dff1b. Accessed 21 June 2017.
QUOTED: "Anderson adeptly uses language to bring Tina's world to life as she carefully traces her heroine's history."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A471901943
City of Saints & Thieves
263.45 (Nov. 7, 2016): p62.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
* City of Saints & Thieves
Natalie C. Anderson. Putnam, $18.99 (432p) ISBN 978-0-399-54758-4
Tina has been living on the streets of (the fictional) Sangui City in Kenya since her mother's murder at the home of Roland Greyhill, her mother's employer and the father of Tina's half-sister, Kiki. Recruited by the Goondas, a gang of orphans and street kids, Tina is the only girl trained to become a foot soldier. As she learns skills to become an accomplished thief, she lives by a series of rules, including "Rule 3: thieves don't have friends" and "Rule 15 : a rule from my mother: run." As Tina gets closer to exacting revenge for her mother's death, she discovers that she may not have all the facts. Debut author Anderson, a former aid worker, deftly addresses issues in the region in this fast-paced thriller, highlighting the struggles of refugees in wartorn eastern Congo and the human rights violations that women in particular face. Using a smattering of Swahili, Sheng (street slang), and French, Anderson adeptly uses language to bring Tina's world to life as she carefully traces her heroine's history to reveal a shocking truth. Ages 12-up. Agent: Faye Bender, Book Group. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"City of Saints & Thieves." Publishers Weekly, 7 Nov. 2016, p. 62+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA469757568&it=r&asid=3147cfd8d9d032c98e774841e0a56278. Accessed 21 June 2017.
QUOTED: "highly recommended for teens looking for a gritty, suspenseful, immersive read driven by a tough, smart, realistic heroine."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A469757568
Anderson, Natalie C.: City of Saints & Thieves
Stephanie Klose
63.1 (Jan. 2017): p96.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
* ANDERSON, Natalie C. City of Saints & Thieves. 432p. ebook available. Putnam. Jan. 2017. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9780399547584.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Gr 7-10--Tina has been developing her plan for revenge against her mother's killer for five years, and it's finally time to set it in motion. But things don't go quite as planned when she breaks into Roland Greyhill's palatial estate in the hills above bustling Sangui City, Kenya. Greyhill's son, Michael, who was Tina's best friend when her mother worked as a maid in the house, catches her downloading information from his father's computer. His condition for not turning her in? Teaming up with him to prove that his father is innocent of murder. Tina staunchly believes in Roland's guilt--he and her mother had been having an affair, and her mother's body had been found in Roland's private study. But Tina feels she has no choice but to play along. Their investigation involves members of the local gang Tina joined after her mother's death, smugglers, oil company executives, and a dissolute journalist, and it takes Tina, Michael, and her friend Boyboy into the remote area of Congo where Tina was born as they try to learn whether something in her mother's past led to her death. Themes of war-time horrors, post-traumatic stress disorder, economic disparity', and colonialism are searulessly woven into a solidly plotted, swiftly paced international murder mystery that's laced with just a hint of romance. VERDICT Highly recommended for teens looking for a gritty, suspenseful, immersive read driven by a tough, smart, realistic heroine.--Stephanie Klose, School Library Journal
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Klose, Stephanie. "Anderson, Natalie C.: City of Saints & Thieves." School Library Journal, Jan. 2017, p. 96+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA476559636&it=r&asid=078418108c2bc8ebe2a30d2ab61e00ad. Accessed 21 June 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A476559636