Root That Mountain

"Evan Balkan's writing is transportive. At its heart, Root That Mountain is a story about an everyman, or, rather, an every-son, Felix, who takes on a leading role, traveling to West Africa to retrieve the body of his slain father. Against the backdrop of a war torn Sierra Leone, Balkan's remarkable book stretches across continents and reads as if it was lifted directly from John le Carre. I couldn't put it down." -Cathy Alter, journalist and author

Felix Laszlo is on a somber mission: Retrieving the body of his murdered father, a doctor who had volunteered to treat the civilian casualties in war-torn Sierra Leone, and bringing him home to be buried in the United States.

Along the way Felix will discover how little he knew about his father, Africa and himself. Once in Africa, Felix will see first-hand the greed and corruption that is commonplace in the "blood diamond" trade. How his father had much more going in Africa than first imagined and how the people of Sierra Leone are subjugated by illegal diamonds and indeed forced into slavery because of them. But he will also find beauty, heartbreak, joy as well as the path to his future.

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