At nineteen, Gettleman fell in love for the first time—twice. On a do-it-yourself community-service trip in college, he went to East Africa—a terrifying, exciting, dreamlike part of the world in the throes of change that imprinted itself on his imagination and on his heart. At around the same time, he also fell in love with a fellow Cornell student—the brightest, classiest, most principled woman he’d ever met. To say they were opposites was an understatement. She became a criminal lawyer in America; he hungered to be in Africa. For the next decade, he would be torn by two dueling obsessions.

A sensually rendered coming-of-age story, Love, Africa is a tale of passion, violence, far-flung adventure, tortuous long-distance relationships, screwups, forgiveness, parenthood, and happiness that explores the power of self-discovery in the most unexpected of places.