Sarah Erdman wrote a wonderful book about her 2 years in the Peace Corps. Nambonkaha, in the northern part of Côte d”Ivoire, is a small village on the cusp between the old world and the new one; in the old world, sorcerers still practice magic and the women grind their corn daily with pestles. In the new world, they face some of the toughest obstacles—the coming of electricity, hunger, AIDS, and a growing unrest in the political climate. Erdman deftly weaves the tales of her days spent in this wonderful place. Instead of sounding like a condescending European, like many other memoirs of whites in Africa, she firmly melded herself into the village life. In the beginning, she had no idea how to help the people. As a health aide, she worked with the village nurse and learns about their customs. Eventually she sees a way she can help the village take control with their health care. Most of all, this is a beautiful story of a woman noticing all the details of life foreign to her. When her tenure in Nambonkaha was up, I didn’t want her to leave. I wanted her to remain in the village to continue writing about its inhabitants. With an eye for details, Erdman’s prose softly makes points about sharp subjects.