Surrounded by extended family, Ayaan likes Mogadishu at first, but she soon learns that the city is gripped by the same radicalization that has taken over Kenya. Having grown up under Barre’s tyrannical regime, young Somalis want a rule that is above politics and human interpretation. Little congregations called the “Assalam-Alaikums, the Blessed-be’s” (126) after the Arabic greeting, have come up everywhere, becoming places for believers to gather. Ayaan reflects that the foreign greeting is as alien to Somalia as liturgical Latin.

As Ayaan and Haweya start secretarial courses in Mogadishu, Ayaan develops a friendship with Mahad’s friend Abshir, who happens to be the younger brother of Abdellahi, the man to whom Mahad had promised Ayaan. Angry at having to break the news of Ayaan’s refusal to Abdellahi, Mahad twists Ayaan’s arm, but relents. Ayaan begins to go out with Abshir, having deep discussions about Islam. Abshir is devout, a powerful speaker at the Brotherhood, and persuades Ayaan to wear a thicker robe that hides every curve of her body. Despite his beliefs, Abshir cannot help kissing Ayaan. One day, Ayaan notes that Abshir kisses her right after lecturing a congregation about the evils of premarital sex. She is repulsed by his hypocrisy and later tells Mahad that she has changed her mind about him.

Only Haweya understands Ayaan’s feelings, as well as her growing disillusionment with Somalia. An influential aunt finds both young women secretarial jobs with the United Nations. Working with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as they install phone lines in rural Somalia, Ayaan gets a close look at government machinery, realizing the extent of corruption and the ubiquity of violence in the countryside. She can see that the government’s failure makes the Brotherhood, funded by money from the Arabian Peninsula, such an attractive option for the poor. The Brotherhood distributes grain and meat outside mosques on Fridays, and gives free healthcare to the needy, unlike the government that only persecutes the underprivileged.

As Barre’s troops turn against the Brotherhood, attacking mosques, Mogadishu becomes dangerous. Khadija, Asha’s stepsister, calls over Ayaan for tea to formally introduce her to her cousin Mahmud, the son of Muhammad (Asha’s brother). Khadija proposes the two cousins marry—marriage between maternal cousins is common in Somali Muslim culture—and Ayaan accepts, charmed by Mahmud’s good looks. Infatuated by Mahmud, Ayaan notes that he is “the malest man I’d ever seen” (138). She and Mahmud meet often, chaperoned, at Khadija’s house. Though Mahmud never touches her, as is proper, Ayaan can tell he desires her greatly. Like Khadija, Mahmud is a communist, who dislikes the Brotherhood.

One day, Mahmud tells Ayaan he has to depart for Russia immediately for a fellowship. He suggests a marriage be performed immediately, without the presence of the larger family, a “secret” ceremony. Ayaan agrees, excited to join the ranks of grown-ups. The marriage takes place, but in the absence of a marriage certificate Ayaan and Mahmud are denied entry into a hotel to spend their wedding night. They ultimately make do with a dubious establishment, where Mahmud has sex with Ayaan, without foreplay, the experience as painful as Jawahir had described. Ayaan’s scar tissue bleeds, and she curses herself for getting swept up by her hormones to marry an unsuitable man. She returns home and receives her marriage certificate a few days later.

By mid-1990, the UNDP stalls its program in Somalia due to growing violence between the Brotherhood and Barre’s troops. Asha insists her daughters return to Kenya.

Haweya and Ayaan leave with a male cousin for Nairobi by road in November 1990, taking a long circuitous route to avoid sites of rioting. Ayaan notes the devastation in the countryside, packed with refugees displaced from conflict zones. It takes them a week to reach Nairobi. Soon after, open war breaks out in Mogadishu between Barré’s army and the Hawiye rebel forces (from an important Sunni Muslim clan). In early January 1991, Ayaan learns that Barre has fled Somalia, leaving his country seething in a vicious civil war.

To Asha’s relief, Mahad escapes the violence and joins the family in Nairobi a few weeks later, but the news he brings is terrible. Barre’s divide- and-rule policy involved fomenting enmity between Somali clans for decades, tearing the land’s social fabric. Now the Hawiye clan rebels have seized Mogadishu and begun targeting the Darod people, murdering women and children, and burning down houses with people still inside. Hundreds of thousands of Darod people begin their exodus to Kenya, Ethiopia, and beyond.

Mahad is approached for help by a Somali cousin called Mahamud whose wife and children fled the violence in Mogadishu a few weeks ago, and are now stranded in the Kenyan border port of Mombasa. However, Mahad procrastinates, and Ayaan steps in, unable to bear Mahamud’s plight. Ayaan leaves for the camp with Mahamud, bribing the officer in charge to get in, promising they will bring out only one woman and two children.

Inside the camp, Ayaan runs into various other extended family members, all malnourished and in dire need. One mother has already resigned herself to her little baby’s death from starvation. Ayaan vows to save the baby. Her group spends the night in the camp, till they locate Mahamud’s wife and children. Ayaan meets a woman who has been brutally raped by the Kenyan soldiers. She learns the soldiers have been targeting vulnerable or single women stranded alone. Even the women in Ayaan’s group disapprove of her helping the woman who has been raped, as if Ayaan will “catch” her “dishonor.”

By the time they locate Mahamud’s family, their party numbers 15 adults and 16 children. Ayaan manages to get them out of the camp and brings them to Asha’s cramped apartment. Despite the crowd, the atmosphere turns festive, and Asha expresses a rare admiration for Ayaan.

In April 1991, Hirsi ends up in Nairobi. When Abeh, as Ayaan calls Hirsi, moves in with them, a sense of order seems to descend upon the household, everyone trying their best to impress him with their upright demeanor. Only Asha appears cool towards Hirsi, a fact Ayaan resents. Asha grows even more bitter, once again venting her frustrations against Ayaan by beating her frequently.

Soon, Maryan, Hirsi’s first wife, and her daughter Ijaabo arrive in Nairobi, fleeing Mogadishu. Hirsi remarries Maryan and moves in with her, leaving Asha once again. The worst betrayal Hirsi commits is against Ayaan, his favorite: In 1992, he announces he has accepted a marriage proposal on her behalf. Ayaan’s husband-to-be is Osman Moussa, a tall Somali young man who grew up in Canada. Hirsi believes the marriage means upward mobility for his family, creating relatives for them in wealthy North America. Ayaan does not feel a connection with the old-fashioned Osman, who refers to Somali Canadian girls as “practically whores, drinking alcohol, going to discos, not covering themselves, and sleeping with white men” (172). When she tells Hirsi that she is not interested in Osman, he declares his word is final on the matter, stunning Ayaan with his rigidity.

Ayaan hopes her “marriage” to Mahmud will save her from this match, but Mahad tears up the marriage certificate, declaring it illegal. Osman and Ayaan get married, with the devout Osman declaring he will consummate the marriage only after the wedding party in Canada. He flies to Toronto; Ayaan is soon to fly to Germany, where she will await her visa to join him.

In the days before Ayaan’s departure for Frankfurt, Hirsi educates Ayaan about her duties as a wife. Ayaan notes that her father’s lessons are confusing: Though he maintains a good wife never says no to her husband, he also insists there is no coercion in Islam. Ayaan feels her father’s Islam is an interpretation of the Quran, even though “you may not interpret the will of Allah and the words of the Quran: it says so, right there in the book” (179). Ayaan ultimately leaves for Frankfurt.