My gun was as tall as me - Toni Davidson

An unflinching, utterly gripping examination of state oppression in Burma and the physical, emotional, and moral consequences for both ordinary Burmese and those from the West attempting to provide aid

High in the Alps, Tuvol, the son of a great European humanitarian, crawls into a snow hole in a deliberate attempt to die. On the other side of the world, in the stifling heat of a South East Asian jungle, twin boys, Lynch and Leer—robbed of speech at birth by a mother unhinged by atrocity—await yet another military assault on their decimated village.Saved from suicide by Etaine, an NGO worker, Tuvol leaves his dysfunctional family, following her to South East Asia to try and find purpose helping those maimed, orphaned, and displaced by a brutal regime. As Tuvol and the twins both flee their very different personal traumas, fate will draw them together in a way that changes all three lives forever.Atonce tender andharrowing,this meticulously researched, epic story of family disintegration, state-sponsored persecution, and the irreconcilable compromises of delivering aid is truly unforgettable.