Radiance of Tomorrow is a novel written by Ishmael Beah that was published recently in 2014. The novel was well received, being named one of the Christian Science Monitor’s best fiction books of 2014. Ishmael Beah had published A Long Way Gone in 2007, and it was immediately popular, recounting the terrible atrocities of Sierra Leone’s civil war and all of the child soldiers. Now, Radiance of Tomorrow tells of what happened after that war, about life that is trying to resurface and continue on without constantly remembering all the scars from the civil war.
The two main characters are named Benjamin and Bockarie, two friends and fellow teachers, who return to their hometown Imperi, Sierra Leone after the civil war. The ground is covered in bones, and the village is still in ruins. However, people are trying to come back and build their town up again; Benjamin and Bockarie help by taking up their former positions as teachers, but everything seems to be falling apart with as the murderers, thieves, and rapists are returning as well, and everyone is running out of food. As the two main characters try to find order in their lives, they are forced to reflect on their past and hope for the best by preserving the most important things in their lives that will build a better future.
