Set in Burundi and Rwanda from 1993 onwards , the novel is narrated by ten-year-old Gaby , who lives with his French father and Rwandan mother in an '' impasse '' in a comfortable district of Bujumbura . Gabriel 's sheltered upbringing leaves him oblivious to the increasing tensions between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority ( to which he , through his mother , belongs ) . As neighbouring Rwanda faces the outbreak of civil war and genocide , which spill over into Burundi , the innocence of Gaby and his group of friends is brutally shattered
genocide
Rwandan genocide
Small Country