The Boy Who Runs: The Odyssey of Julius Achon

In this fantastic biography, Brant narratives the life of Julius Achon, a boy soldier who was raised in the Langi tribe of Uganda. Achon’s father was nominally a cattle wrangler, but he mostly drank, and his mother cared for the nine children, the mud hut, and the family’s income, which she earned by selling clay pots. As a boy, Achon was kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group of rebels who would go on to terrorize their way into international headlines. He escaped, and with this second chance, he took up competitive running in the hopes it would lead him out of rural Africa; he won local meets and earned a scholarship to private high school; then an American college came calling. He set an NCAA record in the 800 meters and made the Olympics. But back in Uganda, the rebel activity of the LRA was decimating the country, leaving his family starving and terrified. World-class runners can’t afford distraction, and Achon’s attention was increasingly turning toward home. Brant does a beautiful job of chronicling the tension that followed. Indeed, his work is first-rate throughout the book, and it makes for a read-in-one-sitting story. Agent: Sloan Harris, ICM. (Aug.)