Nuruddin Farah was born in 1945 in Baidoa, Somalia. He is the author of numerous novels, novellas, short stories, and plays. His novels include Hiding in Plain Sight, Crossbones, and his trilogies Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship and Blood in the Sun, which comprises Maps and Gifts as well as Secrets. After the publication of Sweet and Sour Milk in 1979, Farah became persona non grata in Somalia and served a self-imposed exile of more than twenty years, before he was permitted to visit in 1996. His novels have been translated into many languages and have won numerous international awards. Farah was named the 1998 laureate of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. He now divides his time between Cape Town, South Africa and Annandale, New York.

It is the week before the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia. Kalaman, a successful young businessman in Mogadiscio receives an unexpected house guest -- the wild and sexually adventurous Sholoongo, his childhood crush returned from America. She announces that she intends to have his baby. Confronted by this dangerous interruption from his past, Kalaman starts to investigate his family's history, and uncovers the startling key to his own conception.Hailed by Salman Rushdie as "one of the finest contemporary African novelists, " Farah writes in a rhythmical, sensual prose reminiscent of Garcia Marquez's best fiction. Evoking the beauty and tragedy of Africa, Secrets is a remarkable portrait of a family disintegrating like its country, its ties dissolved by exposed lies and secrets.