Don't Look Back

A Memoir of War, Survival, and My Journey from Sudan to America

I want life.

For ten years, Achut Deng surrived at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya after her family was ripped apart by the Second Sudanese Civil War. But Achut wanted to do more than merely survive. She wanted to live.

The twenty-two-year civil war essentially orphaned over 20,000 children and drove them from their villages in southern Sudan. Some of these children walked over a thousand miles, through dangerous war zones and across unforgiving deserts. They are often referred to as The Lost Boys.

But there were girls, too. Achut Deng was one of them. This is her story. It’s a story of unimaginable hardship and selfless bravery, of tormenting physical pain and amazing emotional resilience, of unbreakable bonds of friendship and family. It’s a story about what happens when your dream comes true, only to give way to a new nightmare. It’s about how hard you will fight to save your own life.

ISBN: 9780374389727 | Published: 14 February 2023 | Hardback | 368 pages