Three times Ms Forna and her two sisters were sent into exile for their safety.

ECONOMIST: African non-fiction

British author Aminatta Forna's novel The Memory of Love has won best book at the Commonwealth Writers' Prize ceremony in Sydney.

BBC: Aminatta Forna wins Commonwealth Writers' honour

The British literary critic and scholar was joined on the judging panel by authors Elif Batuman, Aminatta Forna, Yiyun Li and Tim Parks.

BBC: Man Booker International prize goes to Lydia Davis

They added of Forna's novel that it was "bold, deeply moving and accomplished, which confirms her place among the most talented writers in literature today".

BBC: Aminatta Forna wins Commonwealth Writers' honour

Forna, who was born in Glasgow and spent some of her childhood in Sierra Leone, was praised for "risk-taking, elegance and breadth" in her work.

BBC: Aminatta Forna wins Commonwealth Writers' honour

After he returned to Freetown, Mohamed Forna was sucked into politics.

ECONOMIST: African non-fiction

Aminatta Forna is the daughter of a British mother and Sierra Leonean father who, while at medical school in Scotland, celebrated his nation's independence by puffing away on six cigarettes in one go.

ECONOMIST: African non-fiction

Later, after their parents divorced and remarried, it was the Forna girls' heroic new African stepmother who watched over them, raising money (from Tiny Rowland, among others) and making sure they did their homework.

ECONOMIST: African non-fiction