AUTHOR’S NOTE The first stories I heard of the war between fascist Italy and Ethiopia came from my grandfather. His tales focused on the heroic but poorly equipped Ethiopian fighters who struggled against a modern European army. Growing up, I imagined these men, stoic and regal like my grandfather, facing tanks and sophisticated artillery with outdated guns, and winning. It wasn’t until much later that I discovered the story of my great-grandmother, Getey. She was just a girl, married but too young to live with an adult husband. When Emperor Haile Selassie ordered families to send their eldest
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