Alem is a refugee from Ethiopia. His parents are both Eritrean and Ethiopian. Alem escapes to England from a violent civil war in Badme, which at the time of the novel (2000/1999) was disputed to be either in Ethiopia or in Eritrea. In 1991, 14-year-old Alem and his father are in the capital of Eritrea, his mother's home country. When Alem is ten years old, he and his family move to Harar in Et…