In 1956, Sudan gained independence from Britain and stood on the brink of a promising future. Instead, it descended into civil war and imploded. The continuing conflict in the western region of Darfur has driven millions from their homes and killed thousands more. Jamal Mahjoub was among those who fled following the coup of 1989. Twenty years later, he returned.

Hoping to pull together the fragments of his British and Sudanese identity into a cohesive whole, he explores his own memories of Khartoum, which leads him into an examination of Sudan's rich past and present. Writing with the lyricism and observation of a novelist, Mahjoub brings colonialism, religion, politics, and memoir together to create a layered and revelatory portrait of a complex country, with his own story at the heart of A Line in the River.