Major acclaim for Stephanie Nolen's bestseller 28:
Stories of AIDS in Africa
(a bestseller on the Maclean's, the Globe and
Mail and the Toronto Star lists)
"Stephanie Nolen looks behind the facts and stats to talk to 28
people across the continent affected by the virus. Through them,
she builds up a larger narrative: of mass social stigma and
ignorance; corrupt governments; exploitative drug companies; and a
dispassionate and largely disinterested West. A welcome dispatch
from an epic disaster we ignore at our peril."
-Metro (London)
"In 28, Nolen marshals the reporting and
storytelling skills that have made her, after UN special envoy
Stephen Lewis, this country's most compelling and vigorous voice
for action on the grim parasite worming its way across Africa. In
clear, insightful prose and vivid, though never lurid, detail, she
allows her characters-one for every million people-to tell tales of
despair and remarkable courage, willful ignorance and improbable
triumph."
-The Gazette (Montreal)
"Nolen is a gifted listener and storyteller . . . Her collection .
. . pays loving tribute to the people of Africa . . . Although
history and science are woven lightly in and around the anecdotes
and photographic portraits of the 28, this is a book about human
life and human nature."
-The Globe and Mail
"Nolen puts a very human face on HIV/AIDS in Africa. . . . Nolen
sees beneath the surfaces of these individuals, estranged and all
but destroyed by governmental ineptitude and denial, and evinces
their loves and hopes and family ties, their humanness, with which
all others can identify."
-Booklist
"Never sentimental, Nolen lets the people and their experiences
speak for themselves. The result is both an informative and a
powerful read, which will help Western readers connect personally
with a crisis that too often seems remote. . . . A unique, valuable
contribution to the literature on this important topic."
-Library Journal
"A kind of continental survey of the impact of the AIDS pandemic on
Africa, in stories that are frequently both tragically sad and just
as often hugely inspiring."
-Calgary Herald
"28 searing portraits of Africans affected by the deadly virus. . .
. With a seasoned journalist's finesse, Nolen effortlessly weaves
technical information-health statistics, disease data, NGO
reports-into these deeply intimate glimpses of people often
overlooked in the flood of contemporary media. Nolen's book packs a
real emotional wallop."
-Publishers Weekly
"In 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa, Nolen
takes the reader on an emotional journey through the continent as
she tells the stories of 28 people fighting HIV/AIDS . . . The
stories are powerful, heartfelt and deeply human."
-Kingston Whig-Standard
"She is an evocative and empathetic writer."
-The Nation
"[A] powerful, yet restrained, book. . . . Nolen's book is . . . a
journalist's honest attempt to tell a powerful story using human
interest, anecdotes and poignant quotes in 28 profiles."
-Winnipeg Free Press
"Nolen puts a very human face on HIV/AIDS in Africa. . . . Nolen
sees beneath the surfaces of these individuals, estranged and all
but destroyed by governmental ineptitude and denial, and evinces
their loves and hopes and family ties, their humanness, with which
all others can identify."
-Booklist
"Nolen gives the epidemic a human face - more precisely, 28 human
faces, one for each million Africans estimated to be infected with
HIV. Ill healthcare workers and activists are portrayed along with
ordinary Africans whose lives have been forever changed by AIDS.
Nolen tells their stories simply and elegantly, blending their
personal experiences with relevant background information about the
epidemic. Never sentimental, she lets the people and their
experiences speak for themselves. The result is both an informative
and a powerful read, which will help Western readers connect
personally with a crisis that too often seems remote." -Library
Journal
"28 searing portraits of Africans affected by the deadly
virus. . . . With a seasoned journalist's finesse, Nolen
effortlessly weaves technical information - health statistics,
disease data, NGO reports - into these deeply intimate glimpses of
people often overlooked in the flood of contemporary
media. Nolen's book packs a real emotional wallop."
-Publishers Weekly
"Magnificent, inspiring, informative. Nolen opens the essential
door to the brave, suffering, human reality of the African AIDS
crisis."
-John le Carré
"This is a formidable book of record . . . from the tiny virus, via
28 individual human stories, to an entire continent. The
stories will tear you apart before putting you back together,
fully-armed and ready to go to war with a virus more dangerous than
any W.M.D."
-Bono
"This book is magnificent. It's probably the best book ever written
about AIDS, certainly the best I've ever read. I wept when I
finished, not just because it's beautifully written, not just
because the last chapter tears the heart out, not just because it's
a work of such force and feeling and power, not just because it's
so intensely and astonishingly human, not just because it covers
the entire landscape of the virus, but because its impact could
shape public opinion as never before."
-Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy HIV/AIDS in Africa
"A book of quiet yet overwhelming power, delivering a message of
devastating moral authority. Moving, heartrending and uplifting,
Stephanie Nolen's book bears impeccable witness to the 'unique and
savage' phenomenon of AIDS in Africa."
-William Boyd, author of Restless and
Brazzaville Beach
"If a war had killed 20 million soldiers, and left 28 million more
dying of wounds, we'd call it the worst such tragedy since World
War II. This is the scale of AIDS in Africa. Stephanie Nolen brings
this story to life in a moving, deeply human way. Through these
portraits - shrewdly chosen, varied, and sometimes startlingly
unexpected-she artfully puts a series of human faces on the
greatest health crisis of our time."
-Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost
and Bury the Chains
"28 can soon be 48, 98 and more. And not just in Africa. And it
does not have to be. Nolen shows that the struggle of one to live
with dignity must be the struggle of all. Read. Weep. Rage. And
above all else - like those people described in this brilliant
book-find the courage to do."
-Dr. James Orbinski, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf
of Médecins Sans Frontières
"AIDS in Africa is an enigma. The more it spreads, the less
we see it. It is deadly yet deniable. It hides
in full view of everyone. What this moving book does is
to catch it by the tail and show us its face - it is our
own."
-Christopher Hope, author of My Mother's
Lovers
"Essential reading in the Age of AIDS, it is never earnest, and,
whilst often painful, full of humane and painstakingly researched
detail."
-Emma Thompson
From the Hardcover edition.