Edo's Souls is a compelling, multi-generational epic that sees the three main characters trapped in a nation gripped by the terrors of civil war, forcing each one to confront their past selves, and to resolve what is most important to them - love, family, or country. When a young Lucy-Eghino, who is coming of age in a 1970s village in southern Sudan, is beset by rumours of approaching violence, she has no choice but to flee - first to Juba, then northwards to Khartoum. Marco, a gentle young father, wages a daily battle to keep his family together while avoiding friction with any northerners. Peter, a soldier unsure of where his loyalties lie, is forced to carry out night raids searching for bands of rebels. "This is apparently the first novel from South Sudan to be translated into English and a very fine novel it is... This is quite a complicated novel. We are dealing with the Sudan Civil War and the differences between the South and the North. We follow the stories of several interrelated characters, whose relationships with one another are not always smooth. Peter and his foster family, for example, clash more than once. We see feminist issues as being key, particularly though certainly not only as regards the role of women in Muslim society. We also learn a lot about the culture of the two Sudans. Gaitano tells her story very well and a complex, well-written novel from South Sudan is most welcome." - John Alvey in The Modern Novel "Stella Gaitano's debut novel Edo's Souls, set between Sudan and South Sudan, stages an epic battle between the forces of Motherhood and Death. Now available in Sawad Hussain's excellent English translation, Edo's Souls follows Gaitano's two striking short-story collections and is filled with the same sensory intensity as her short works." - Marcia Lynx Qualey in Qantara Stella Gaitano was born in Khartoum in 1979 into a South Sudanese family. She studied English and Arabic at Khartoum University and trained as a pharmacist. When the Sudan was partitioned, she moved to Juba, the capital of South Sudan in 2012. In 2015 Gaitano had to move back to Khartoum, after having been harassed and attacked due to her criticism of the South Sudanese government for what she saw as its mismanagement, corruption, and its role in the South Sudanese civil war. In 2022 Gaitano was awarded a fellowship by the PEN International Writers-in-Exile programme and moved to Germany Sawad Hussain is an award-winning Arabic-English literary translator. She has an MA in Arabic literature from the School of Oriental and African Studies. She has translated two books for Dedalus: Catalogue of a Private Life by Najwa Bin Shatwan (2021) and Edo's Souls by Stella Gaitano (2024).