2024/024: Black Dove, White Raven — Elizabeth Wein

2024/024: Black Dove, White Raven — Elizabeth Wein

...'one of them told me that if you were born to a slave before 1916 then you are automatically a slave too. They are still a lot of old laws in place.’
‘Good thing you were born in 1919,’ I said.
He turned to look at me and he was crying. ‘1916 is the Ethiopian date,’ he said. ‘You know how the Ethiopian calendar is a little over seven years behind?' [p. 182]

Elizabeth Wein's World War 2 novels (Code Name Verity, Rose Under Fire) have really impressed me, and have stayed fresh in my mind for a decade or more. I suspect they may be intended for a younger audience, but that doesn't mean that Wein softens anything. In Black Dove, White Raven she deals with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935; with slavery; with racism and sexism; and with wartime atrocities.

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