num_pages: 183
description: When Jodie's mother decides to move to West Africa, Jodie's world seems like it is being turned upside-down. But when Jodie arrives in Bukama, the small African village in Sierra Leone where they are going to live, a young girl emerges from the crowd to greet her. She is Khadi, and she is to become Jodie's closest friend. Until Jodie watches the entire village break into a wild dance -- including Khadi, who begins to disappear from the village. "Secret Society, Jodie. Stay away from it, " her mother warns her. The secret society, Sande, involves the genital mutilation of young girls. It is a dangerous ritual -- one that could cost Khadi her life, and Jodie decides to try to save her friend. But Jodie is messing with a sacred cultural taboo that could threaten her very place in the village -- and her mother's as well.
language: English
title: No Condition Is Permanent
publisher: Philomel