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Yandit Medir Lejotch is a historical novel written in two volumes. Nearly 40 years ago, in his mid-twenties, Dr. Amare Tegbaru wrote this historical novel, which contains Vol I & II, while on death row, from 1978-1982, in a maximum-security prison. He was jailed during the bloody military dictatorship of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam. Despite his agonizing wait for the death squad that could appear to take him at any moment, he dared to write on discarded cigarette packets and newspapers. What makes Yandit Mider Lijotch, a fictional historical novel a memorable classic is its clear eyed honesty and integrity. It paints almost photographic images of that battlefield along with the freedom fighters' turbulent emotions around the survival of an independent Ethiopia. The urban poor-workers and children-normally ignored in the literary history of Ethiopia are given prominent roles. The novel offers a deeper understanding of the role of women, the challenge of male supremacy and the complicated issues of gender inequality in family and societies.



The book could serve as a reference for students of Higher Education both in Ethiopia and in the

Diaspora. It could also serve as good manuscript for production of documentary

movie on conditions of the poor and voiceless prior to the February 1966

Ethiopian Revolution.