It is 1993 in Dar es Salaam when two sheltered seven-year-old Tanzanian girls-one black, one white-meet outside the stall of an injured military horse. But what neither girl knows is that the horse's wounds pale in comparison to the secrets and lies the girls' parents have been entangled in for decades.

Suzanna, the white girl, has a blistery red birthmark on her right cheek. Safina, whose skin is the color of chocolate, does not know who her father is or that he killed Suzanna's father and grandfather. As the children turn to each other for friendship and comfort amid racism and bullying, they unwittingly draw closer to truths with the potential to destroy each of them. Many who have a stake in the outcome include Safina's half-brother, Suzanna's unstable mother, a white stepfather on the hunt for a black fugitive, a native priest, and a wild leopard. As fears and loyalties overshadow everything else and a puzzle is slowly pieced together, only time will tell if broken hearts can ever heal.


From the colorful streets of Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean through the savannahs and montane forests of East Africa, this compelling tale flows with mystery and revelation, love and violence, and faith and doubt to a haunting and unforgettable conclusion.