Thank you for the opportunity to review - this was really fun and creative! Would definitely seek out more titles from Ms Williams.

A great african setting with great writing and characters that i really enjoyed reading. My only issue with this book is the very open ending that leaves everything up to the reader and how they decide to want the characters to end up which just doesn't work for me. I want to the author to let me know where the story ends in their words.

Still overall definalty worth a read, just go into this book knowing its very open ended and might leave you frustrated with it.

A good book on the ivory trade and the LRA. The weakness in the story was, for me, the ending. A few surprises but things came together easily in what was otherwise a believable novel.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

This novel explores the impact of loss, and war on peoples’ lives in a slow, meditative manner. Two women from two different worlds come together in a story of hope and discovery. Sabine Hardt, an Aids worker has returned to Germany quite burnt-out after nearly two decades in Africa. She is forced to return when her American niece, Lily, disappears while volunteering in Uganda.

Then there’s Rose Akulu, recently returned from her time with the Lord’s Resistance Army, having been abducted as a child. Wounded both in spirit, as well as body, missing an arm, Rose experiences the disappearance of her lover, Ocen. What follows is a journey into the heart of the conflict to find out what happened to both Sabine’s niece and Rose’s lover.

Author Jenny D Williams shines a glaring and informative light on the situation in Uganda, while weaving the stories of both the women. Somewhat slow at times which means the narrative dips at times, but the story remains compelling enough to follow through. In time, Rose emerges as the more defined character, with her wounds and silences, however, while Sabine remains a little hidden beneath her hardness, however. The portrait of Uganda that emerges is both harsh, stark and eye-opening. The dénouement is profoundly surprising. An interesting, informative read.

The Atlas of Forgotten Places is a surprising, incredible novel that really has it all – a thrilling, adventurous narrative, strong and powerful characters, and a plot entwining historical, political and current events. Most of all, it is an exploration of family, friendship, and the lengths we will go to protect our loved ones – and how that love unites us across borders.

The novel is narrated by two very different women, brought together in their search for the people they love – especially when they learn that those two people may have gone missing together. Sabine Hardt was an aid worker in Africa for many years, until a tragic event made her doubt her ability to make a difference in the world. She retreated to a quiet life in her native Germany, watching from a distance as her American niece Lily takes her place in Uganda. Envisioning a future of helping people, Lily is wide-eyed and optimistic in her emails to her aunt – until she suddenly disappears on her way home to America. Sabine makes the inevitable trip to Uganda to search for Lily, bringing back surprising memories of her past.

While tracking Lily’s movements, Sabine meets Rose Akulu, a young Ugandan woman working with the American aid workers, offering support to the victims of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. Rose herself was kidnapped by the LRA as a child – she eventually escaped, under circumstances that are slowly revealed, and returned to her village with haunting memories and a missing arm. Members of the LRA who return home are shunned by their former friends and family, and Rose was only able to find solace in her boyfriend Ocen, whose brother was also taken by the LRA. Now Ocen has disappeared too, and the evidence suggests that he may be with Lily.

Sabine and Rose do not completely trust each other, but with the help of relief worker and mutual friend Christoph, the two women are willing to sacrifice everything to find Lily and Ocen. As an American girl, Lily’s disappearance is publicized by the western media – meanwhile, Rose worries that Ocen will be collateral damage in the search for Lily. Williams does an impressive job of creating complicated, emotionally-charged characters who realistically reflect the situation in Uganda – white aid workers are attempting to do good, helping people during a time of civil war, but their role in Africa becomes an echo of the colonialism that caused these issues in the first place.

Williams has obviously spent time in Uganda, and the setting comes alive in a real and assured way. The novel is written in clean, straightforward prose that clearly reflects the complex political situation in Uganda – there is no awkwardly inserted exposition about the war, but instead it is explained as it is relevant to the scenes and characters. There are also no simple explanations of good vs. evil here – when children are kidnapped and forced to kill, and then ostracized by their families when they return, we are forced to witness the true extent of human cruelty. And there is no escape into fiction, as this novel is based on real-world, current events that we cannot look away from.

Sabine and Rose each have distinct voices and perspectives on the situation around them – neither one is particularly likeable, and yet as their backstories are revealed, both are sympathetic and real. Although these women come from extremely different circumstances, they are more similar than they realize. And while the ending of the novel is sudden and unresolved, it is certainly hopeful – it leaves room for many possible outcomes, including the hope for a future in which we can be united across borders to prevent child soldiers and the men who create them. Most of all, there is hope for people like Rose, whose childhood was taken from her, and yet she emerged from the jungle willing to help others discover a better way of life.

I received this book from Thomas Dunne Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Typically, I do not enjoy reading about books set in Africa. But this one broke the mold. I truly felt as if I was experiencing life on the wild plains of Africa. Throw in the actions of the international aid community and I feel akin to Bono. Suspenseful, descriptive, and immersed- the reader can't help but want to finish this is one sitting.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

I couldn't get into the story. Abandoned at 20%.
No Rating, dnf.

This is a very strong debut for a new author. The 2 main characters, Rose, a Ugandan, and Sabine, a German former Ugandan aid worker, were very well developed and believable. I enjoyed the native words and customs interwoven into the story. There were multiple sub-plots which were interesting and skillfully narrated. The harsh realities of a country at war with itself meant there were raw, painful to read passages at times. Human flaws and cruelty were contrasted with courage and compassion.

This book would have garnered 5 stars had there been one or two more chapters to let me know what happened with certainty to Christof, Lily and Rose. However, that is just the way I like a story - - totally wrapped up. I know the author left things at a bit of a loose end, to reflect the way life most often happens to be.

I am always on the hunt for a potential book club read and I believe I scored with this one. I have closely followed the horrific events and atrocities that have occurred in Africa over the past decade and like many people feel extremely helpless. I wish I had the fortitude and bravery that our characters Sabine and her niece Lily possess. Sabine a former crisis and aide worker must return to war torn and devastated Uganda, possibly one of the most dangerous places on earth. This is a complex story of the horrors of war and the powers that arise, family, friendship, and lost love. You are there, you are with Sabine and Lily trying desperately to make sense out of chaos. Jenny D Williams has a true talent and this is definitely going to my book club! There are so many thing to discuss and debate!
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read in exchange for an unbiased review. You have a winner.
Review links will be added once the sites update.

I was pretty much glued to this book while I was reading it. It’s both suspenseful and thoughtful, and provides detailed information about a country that most Americans know little about.

Williams, a former aid worker in Uganda, tells the story from two perspectives. Sabine is a German woman who has spent most of her adult life as an aid worker in various countries. Rose is a young Ugandan woman who was abducted as a teen by the LRA (the Lord’s Resistance Army) and forced to become a soldier, a wife, and a mother.

In December 2008, Sabine returns to Uganda when her niece Lily, who is volunteering for six months after college, goes missing. Lily completed her service, left a note that said she’ll be “off the grid” for a few weeks, and fails to show up for her flight back to the U.S. Sabine is a devoted aunt who feels she hasn’t done nearly enough for her niece (I know that feeling) and she well knows the dangers Lily might face.

Similar to Elizabeth Kostova’s The Shadow Land, this is really a detective story, set in a historical context. Everyone Sabine talks to gives her a slightly new clue to where her niece might have gone, and why. It’s both a journey story and a mystery, but its strength is how Williams adds personal growth for her characters as well. Sabine, for example, must come to terms with the reason she left aid work (and ultimately, the reason she got into aid work). Rose must find a way to accept what she was forced to do by the LRA. Both of them are seeking forgiveness and absolution. The difference between them, however, is that Rose is rejected by her own community (the Acholi) and is seen as a traitor, not as someone who was victimized. Consequently she’s told very few people what she endured, even the handful of people she’s close to.

It will not surprise you that Sabine is the more fleshed out of the two characters, given Williams’ own experiences, but Williams gives both characters distinct voices that seem true to their vastly different cultures and experiences (I say “seem” because I wouldn’t know if either of them truly reflect Acholi or German cultures).

My Reading Around the World challenge has made me conscious of when I’m reading a book by a native of a country versus a visitor. Williams is white, and lived in Uganda for some time as an aid worker, but certainly is not a true insider. I was a little worried that this book might downplay Rose’s story and focus too much on Lily and Sabine. It does, a bit, but Williams takes numerous opportunities to show the reader how these women are treated very differently due to race and nationality, and how the authorities are anxious to help when an American life is at stake but pay little attention to the lives of native Ugandans.

I almost went into the Peace Corps myself, although ultimately student loans and a good job kept me from going. If I’m being honest, I don’t know that I would have had the nerve to go, or if I would have done a good job. I’ll always wonder about that. So reading this story was interesting for me on a personal level as well, although I did find myself frustrated with Lily’s apparent naivete.

This is an extremely strong debut novel. It’s well paced with interesting characters and story, and rich historical detail. In many ways I liked it more than Kostova’s novel about Bulgaria, because the clues weren’t great big revelations but were often more subtle, and because where Kostova took us out of the modern day story to tell us the history, Williams blended the history into the story. And finally, where it didn’t make sense for Kostova’s characters to go racing from town to town, in this story, while the journey is far more dangerous, it’s also more understandable. There were a few times I thought the book would fall into cliché and it didn’t.

This was a novel where I learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the read, despite its difficult subject matter. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Thomas Dunne Books for sharing this novel. The book was published July 11, 2017.

The Atlas of Forgotten Places is a tough but worthy read. It takes place primarily in contemporary Uganda and the Republic of Congo. Sabine, who lives in Germany, learns that her niece Lilly has gone missing in Uganda. Sabine herself had spent many years doing relief work in Uganda and so she goes there to try to find her niece. The story is told from Sabine's point of view and from Rose's point of view. Rose is native to Uganda and has a sad painful history. Rose and Sabine's stories eventually come together as part of the search for Lilly. This is not a novel of beautiful writing or subtle literary sensibilities. The writing is straightforward, and the view of personal and collective suffering is unflinching. There is a strong political undercurrent, but it doesn't come across as naive or didactic. And this for me is the book's strength. Williams does an excellent job of portraying a complex political situation as experienced by people with complex emotions and motivations. This is a messy, violent and complicated world. The impulse to help may be well meaning, but it is never selfless and can do more harm than good. The people caught up in violent conflict can be brutal but they often started as children trying to survive and missing their parents. The root causes include colonialism and continued western greed, but this is not a reason to absolve the brutality of the leaders who lead children into war. In the end, this is a story seen from a European perspective -- which is definitely different than if it had been written by someone originally from Uganda -- but I appreciated that the author is careful to avoid stereotypes or simple explanations. Recommended for those interested in this area of the world, but go in knowing what you are getting into. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

I absolutely loved this book. A book filled with family, love, friendship, action and suspense set in Africa during the revolutionary war in Uganda and the Congo.

Sabine, who has retired from a long career of aid work to Germany, discovers that her niece, Lily, who went to Uganda to follow in her aunt's footsteps, is missing. Lily was scheduled to come home for the holidays, however, she was not on the plane when it landed. Sabine knows that the only way she is going to find her niece is to go to Uganda herself and look into the matter.

What she finds there is so different from how it was when she was there as an aid worker. There has been a revolutionary war and poverty is everywhere. Families are missing family members and it seems everyone is trying to find their loved ones. However, with Lily being white, she hopes that this will put a spark under everyone and Lily will be found easily and safely. That does not happen.

The story of Sabine's journey is filled with action and suspense. I sped right through this book totally engrossed. Jenny D. Williams has done a great job in this, her debut novel. The writing and how she plotted everything was impeccable.

A book filled with emotion, surprises, and lots and lots of danger which I found very entertaining. I would definitely read this author's next book!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

The story I read in this book was not the one I expected. From the description I read on NetGalley I was expecting something with less depth and emotion than what I got. It was a pleasent surprise. Williams' novel takes you around the world and through time; introducting you to horrors and atrocitys, the ache of returning home from something so truly terrible, and leaves you wanting to hold your loved ones a little tighter, and fight just a little harder when something matters. Her scenery comes alive when you read, you feel as though you are in Uganda, in the midst of the war and homes of her characters. She also ignites further interest in the reader regarding the ivory trade, at least for me she did. I was aware of how it had decreased animal populations, but was unaware of its extent in financing these civil wars. However this is also a story about love, love for your sister, your partner, and the ever unspoken bonds of people forced together in horrible situations. Williams' story sucks you in with its mystery, and weaves together an atmosphere that keeps you turning each page. Told from the points of view of Sabine and Rose, their voices are distnct and diffent; though they experience similar traumas, and the supporting characters are equally well written and diverse. What I appreciated the most was the sense of historical accuracy; while the events are obviously fictionalized the history they are taken from is very much real, and the representation that Williams brings to the table is important.

“Ocen is a part of this too. We haven’t forgotten him. It’s just easier to spur people to action when it’s an American life at stake.” The injustice of this truth should have outraged her. Tens of thousands of abducted Acholi children, tens of thousands more slaughtered at the rebels’ hands; how many dead and dying in IDP camps? How many dead and dying in Faradje, in yesterday’s bus attack? Ah, but should a mono girl be among them! Then we may intervene; then we may act. She felt nothing. She’d heard this story before.

Gorgeously executed and stunning in scope, The Atlas of Forgotten Places is a novel I will be recommending to others for years to come. Williams expertly crafts a thought provoking tale as she examines a brutal time in Africa’s history and spotlights with great empathy the people who have suffered and are still suffering at the hands of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army. The story follows Sabine as she receives word that her American niece Lily (who has been volunteering as an aid worker in Uganda) is missing. Sabine herself worked for years in Africa so she hops on the next available flight to go in search of her niece. Shortly after her arrival in Uganda, Sabine learns much to her horror, that Lily has been captured by Joseph Kony and the LRA. Determined to retrieve Lily and bring her home, Sabine enlists the help of her former colleague and aid worker Christoph along with Rose, an African woman whose lover has also gone missing with Lily. Unbeknownst to Sabine and Christoph, Rose is silently struggling with herself, harboring dark secrets of her past. Together the three of them embark upon a harrowing and dangerous journey that will leave them face to face with some of the most brutal men of our day.

Williams takes information that is at times unfathomable and writes it in such a manner that you are riveted to your seat, eyes never leaving the page. This novel is heartbreaking and yet hopeful; a gorgeous testament to compassion and forgiveness. My heart broke for Rose and the brutality that she suffered in her past and then again by the humiliating stigma that followed her wherever she went. I recognized my younger self in Lily, headstrong and naïve, thinking she can go out and save the world just by her sheer determination and passion. And I haven’t even begun to talk about the elephants. Any one who knows me knows I am crazy passionate about elephant conservation, so to have this theme weaved in to this story so well almost did me completely in. Elephant poaching is a very real threat that goes hand in hand with rebel fighters in that they can sell the ivory on the black market to purchase ammunition and weapons. Today, Joseph Kony remains at large. It is estimated that he has abducted over 66,000 children and millions of people have been displaced to government camps fleeing his armies. Thank you Jenny Williams for writing such a powerful, stunning, and haunting debut.

Williams brings to vivid life the Ugandan civil war through the voices of Sabine, a former aid worker who returns to Uganda to search for her missing niece, and Rose, a young Ugandan woman who has a former connection to the rebels. There are no winners in war, only those that have lost & those that have lost more. Novels like this are important because they not only entertain, but they educate in a way that brings humanity and understanding to these difficult to these conflicts. The only criticism I have is that the ending was abrupt... wish there had been more closure. 4 stars.

The Atlas of Forgotten Places was one of the rare books that I read without previously hearing anything about it or the author. I went in blind, guided only by the beautiful cover and the interesting blurb. I am delighted to have given this one a chance.

The novel is told in 3rd person from the point of view of two women: Sabine, former aid worker who spent 15 years in African countries and now returned to her native Germany and Rose, a former child soldier in the Uganda LRA rebel army. Although in the beginning they have nothing in common, their paths intersect when Sabine’s niece and Rose’s boyfriend disappear in Uganda. As it seems that both disappearances were connected, the two women have to join forces in order to recover their loved ones.

Although the novel is sold as a mystery and adventure story it is so much more. It is a novel about family drama, about loss, war, pain in all its forms and struggle for survival. I learned a great deal about the Ugandan civil war and. It felt like an adventure to travel with the characters around the neighboring countries and to research on the Internet more information about Ugandan history and politics. The journey was also painful as I discovered that returning child soldiers are rejected by their families, exactly when they needed more support. I once again found myself surprised and horrified by the extent of human cruelty towards people and not only. I got to know more about the illegal ivory trade, which represents an important source of funds for the African wars and, as you might know, have almost extinguished the White Rhino population and decreased the number of elephants.

The author lived in Uganda and I could see that in the novel, as it was clear that she knew some of the places she described, they came alive under my eyes. The writing was pleasant, correct without too much flourishing. The characters could have been more rounded but they did not lack in complexity and their background stories were interesting and explained their behavior.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book tries too hard to teach me about what it means to be an aid worker in Africa, has very little that is convincing to say about being African in Africa, and in general does way too much telling and not nearly enough showing.

Atonement is one of the most difficult things for people to achieve, more so when the person trying to atone is the only one who can forgive. In The Atlas of Forgotten Places, by Jenny D. Williams, several of the main characters are seeking to atone for their own crimes or the crimes of their family members—and they’re trying to do so in the middle of an active war zone as the Ugandan army is routing out members of the Lord’s Resistance Army. The emotional and physical conflicts in this book make for a nail-biting reading experience. Worse, it doesn’t follow the tropes of thrillers, so we don’t know until the very end if the protagonists live or not; there are no guarantees in The Atlas of Forgotten Places.

Sabine Hardt, a former aide worker from Germany, and Rose Akulu, a translator and transcriptionist who was once a captive of the LRA, take turns narrating the novel. Both are seeking someone they lost. In Sabine’s case, she’s looking for her niece after Lily failed to make her flight back to the States from Kampala. Rose is trying to find her lover, Ocen, who disappeared with Lily sometime in the weeks before Christmas, 2008. For the first third of The Atlas for Forgotten Places, the two women work separately to find their lost loved ones. After Sabine meets Rose’s boss, the two women strike a truce and team up to follow the faint trail Lily left behind.

While the two women try to find their lost ones, they each take time to reflect on what brought them to this place and this time: betrayals, lies, atonement. Both Rose and Sabine have had hard lives. In Rose’s case, the hardness came partly from her abduction and years with the LRA and partly from the guilt and grief she’s carried ever since. Sabine became an aide worker because of something that her grandfather did—to say more would spoil the revelation. Now she’s trying to find her niece in part because she wasn’t very supportive of Lily while Lily did her own stint of aide work.

The reflectiveness and uncertainty of The Atlas of Forgotten Places—along with the setting—make for a thriller elevated above the typical emotional shallowness of the genre. It touches on the sorrow and anger that a long civil war causes, the mad stubbornness of the men who wage that war, the seeming futility of aide work, and self-imposed quests for atonement. The Atlas of Forgotten Places refuses the easy path, right to its very last pages.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration. It will be released 11 July 2017.

Every once in a while, along comes a novel that won't leave you, that keeps you up at night contemplating important questions.Williams has constructed a novel that fits beautifully into this category. Based on real and imagined events set in the DNC and Uganda, this novel follows Sabine, a burned out aid worker who currently works in an animal shelter in Germany, Rose, a one armed Ugandan woman who was formerly abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army, and Lily, a young girl doing volunteer work in Uganda, and Sabine's niece. When Lily does not return home as scheduled, Sabine races to Africa to see if she can find her, fearing the worst. What follows is a tromp through LRA battlegrounds, fighting through bureaucratic minefields with Rose and her boss.Both Rose and Sabine are looking for someone lost in their lives that they care deeply about. Williams has achingly sketched the principal characters with such a fine point pen, that they leap off the page, making us invested in their futures.There is so much to discuss and learn in this book that it is perfect for book groups. My only gripe is the open ended conclusion to the book, which left me angry as I needed more closure. However, it is a small price to pay for a book of such depth..