Changes

|title=Running the Rift

|author=Naomi Benaron

|publisher=Oneworld Publications

|date=March 2012

|website=http://naomibenaron.com

|video=

|summary=This affecting, prize winning story provides Olympics year with its most original sports-related novel. Jean Patrick Nkumba has a chance to become an Olympian, but he is also a Rwandan Tutsi and so life is about to take a devastating turn.

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Jean Patrick Nkumba has a sheltered, comparatively privileged upbringing in Rwanda. Although far from opulent, life in the school compound where his father is headmaster is safe and Jean Patrick is loved and encouraged by his family to aim high both at school and in his passion for running. Despite being of the Tutsi tribe, he has also been encouraged to think of himself as Rwandan first, a nationality and ethos encompassing the rival Hutus. However not all feel the same and a series of tragic events lead to world news and personal hell. For this is the land where, in 1994, 800,000 people would be killed during a mere 100 days.