Diamond Boy

Williams turns in a riveting tale about 15-year-old Patson Moyo, who becomes a diamond farmer, working in the Marange diamond fields of 2006 Zimbabwe, to help provide for his family. Patson risks life and limb, hoping to find common ngodas or ultra-rare girazis—diamonds that could change his life for the better. But when the army moves in and takes the fields for themselves, Patson’s freedom is stripped away. A rapid string of brutal tragedies follow, including death and dismemberment, and Patson’s only hope for survival is to follow his younger sister to South Africa, aided by a mysterious Congolese mercenary. All the while, he is relentlessly hunted by a powerful military leader who thinks Patson is the key to finding girazis. Williams draws from real events to bring this harrowing story to life, infusing Patson’s narrative with terrifying accuracy. Along the way, the story crosses over with Williams’s 2011 novel, Now Is the Time for Running, though readers need not be familiar with that book to be gripped and horrified by the troubles facing Patson and his nation. Ages 12–up. Agent: Wendy Schmalz, Wendy Schmalz Agency. (Dec.)