Strength in What Remains recounts the remarkable experiences of Deo, a medical student from Burundi who narrowly survived two genocides, first in his own country, then Rwanda. Through sheer fortitude, and the astonishing kindness of strangers, Deo fled to New York. But his ordeal was far from over. He endured daily discrimination in his menial job, and left his first home - a Harlem tenement building - for the greater safety of sleeping rough in Central Park.

Again the generosity of those he encountered prevailed. Deo was introduced to a couple who would in time virtually adopt him, and in the coming years he graduated from Colombia, obtained US citizenship and returned to Burundi to pursue his dream of founding a clinic. In this powerful book, Tracy Kidder brings to light the universality of the human condition through Deo's extraordinary story of suffering and survival.