While the Sun is Above Us
GENRE
DRAMA HISTORICAL FICTION WAR
Core Theme
PERSEVERANCE IN TIMES OF WAR.
TIME PERIOD
20th Century (multiple decades)
COMPARABLE TITLES
BEIRUT, JACK RYAN
CHARACTER LIST
• ADUT: 27. LEAD. STRONG WILLED, MATRONLY, COURAGEOUS,
HEROIC, STRONG MORAL CODE, BEAUTIFUL, DESPERATE
• SANDRA: 27. LEAD. AN ADVENTUROUS CANADIAN YOUNG WOMAN, SHE TRAVELS TO SUDAN ENTICED BY A PICTURE OF ADUT. SHE WANTS TO HELP.
Logline
While the Sun is Above Us takes readers deep into the extraordinary world of Sudan through the intertwined lives of two women. In the midst of a bloody civil war, Adut is brutally captured and held as a slave for eight years. Sandra, fleeing her life in Canada, travels to South Sudan as an aid worker but soon finds herself unwittingly embroiled in a violent local conflict. When chance brings Adut and Sandra together in a brief but profound moment, their lives change forever.
Target Audiences
Age: 35-54
Target Gender: Female leaning
Setting
Sudan, Canada
Based on a True Story
No
Publishing Details
Status: Yes: with a Publisher
Publisher: Freehand Books
Year Published: 2012
Starting Description
While the Sun is Above Us is set amidst the backdrop of South Sudan’s civil war. Adut, a woman from the Dinka tribe, grew up in an idyllic village in the South only to be raided by the enemy of the north and taken as a slave for eight years. Sandra flees a painful breakup in Canada to go to Africa.
Ending Description
Adut escapes with the help of her father, who captures Sandra to drive him there and to use as bait.
Group Specific
Information not completed
Hard Copy Available
No
ISBN
Information not completed
Mature Audience Themes
Extreme Violence, Sexual Abuse
Plot - Other Elements
Meaningful Message
Plot - Premise
Voyage and Return
Main Character Details
Name: Adut
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Role: Protagonist
Key Traits: Heroic, Strong Moral Code, Beautiful, Desperate
Additional Character Details
Name: Sandra
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Role: Protagonist
Key Traits: Adventurous
Additional Character Details
The author has not yet written this
Additional Character Details
The author has not yet written this
Brief
Sudan, civil war. Adut is brutally captured and held as a slave for eight years. Sandra, fleeing her life in Canada, travels to South Sudan as an aid worker but soon finds herself unwittingly embroiled in the violent local conflict. When chance brings Adut and Sandra together in a brief but profound moment, their lives change forever.
What We Liked
- Heart-wrenching tale of the lives of two women in war-torn north Africa.
- Imminent danger - they could be killed at any time;
- Amazing, strong female characters;
- The African landscape is exotic and cinematic;
- The characters are rich and well-developed, and the pace is quick;
- Could attract acclaim and awards.
Synopsis
ADUT, 27, recounts her days a slave and how she is now married a living with her aunt. She has two children. She lives in war-ravaged South Sudan and is optimistic about the world despite her surroundings. She prays to her ancestors.
SANDRA, 27, is being held prisoner in North Sudan. She is visited by a cobra but is not attacked. A boy with one arm feeds her rice. She knows her father is upset and probably spending his life savings to find her, while her mother is obsessed with her new-age life. She doesn’t want to go back to Toronto and let people see how she’s changed.
Back to the past. Adut is just a girl when she's taken from her village to become a slave to a wealthy family in Sudan. She has chores from when she wakes up until she sleeps, and is told this is Allah's will. She is raped by the head of the house and gives birth in captivity.
The punishments are harsh - if she steals any food she can have her hands chopped off. When she does finally get the courage to escape with her baby, she is caught and whipped horribly.
Sandra, a Canadian, is so moved by a photograph of an African woman and her baby she goes there. She thinks the woman in the picture has something life changing to impart to her.
As part of an aid group, she goes to Sudan but gets caught up in the war, being kidnapped by insurgents, and her life is in danger. Adut and her two children, however, are finally saved by her father, who knows Sandra’s kidnappers, and manages to trade the Canadian for her. Sandra is imprisoned and is in constant fear of rape or execution, and wonders if anyone is looking for her.
When Sandra is let go from imprisonment, thanks also to a remorseful Adut's father, she ends up in the hospital. After being questioned by soldiers who think she’s a spy, she decides she’s going home. She talks to her father to go live with him.