At once necessary, difficult and elating. Her reporting from the Syrian revolution and war is clear-eyed and engaged in the best sense - engaged in the human realm rather than the abstractly political. . . . Such reporters as Giovanni, who not only visit but also live (and often die) through wars not their own, are heroic
Robin Yassin-Kassab
Guardian
Devastating . . . . Like the work of the Belarussian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich, Ms. di Giovanni's book gives voice to ordinary people living through a dark time in history ... Ms. di Giovanni writes here with urgency and anguish ... Her testimony is contained here in this searing and necessary book
Michiko Kakutani
New York Times
Di Giovanni writes vividly and we see with her how Damascene supporters of Assad drift away as the brutality of his rule became impossible to deny ... Di Giovanni explains to us how horrible it all really is
Evening Standard
Precisely observed... The strength of the writing comes out in the more subtle moments... Di Giovanni's [book] is full of passion and self-questioning
Roger Boyes
The Times
This is a desperately sad book but it's a vital read ...




Mail on Sunday
Di Giovanni is responsible for some of the most poetic reportage from Syria ... Her writing stays with you
New Statesman
Heart-breaking ... Di Giovanni confronts the nightmarish subject of sexual violence as a means of terrifying prisoners early in this extremely harrowing book. Unsensational but unsparing
Observer
Janine di Giovanni has described war in a way that almost makes me think it never needs to be described again
Sebastian Junger
One of our generations finest foreign correspondents
Daily Telegraph
Few writers can match her evocations of individual suffering in wartime
Newsweek
Di Giovanni is a war reporter whose courage is matched only by her compassion for her subjects
Evening Standard
Vividly depicts the lives of ordinary people dealing with extraordinary events: life and death during a time of bitter armed conflict
LA Times
Heartbreaking . . . . [A] haunting reminder of what the Syrian revolution, ultimately, is about. . . . Amid our obsession with ISIS, these tales are worth remembering
Anand Gopal
New York Times
Necessary, difficult and elating. Her reporting from the Syrian revolution and war is clear-eyed and engaged in the best sense - engaged in the human realm rather than the abstractly political. Giovanni's account is deeply personal ... Such reporters as Giovanni, who not only visit but also live (and often die) through wars not their own, are heroic. These are the Marie Colvins, Paul Conroys, Ali Mustafas of journalism
Guardian
It is crucial to reveal the human stories behind the news - and in The Morning They Came For Us, Janine di Giovanni does this with heartbreaking eloquence. How did millions of Syrians - both ordinary people and the elite - carry on from one day to the next? As Giovanni gives us the answers, it is clear that she is far more than merely a visitor. Her account of Syria is a testimony to the power of empathy, conscience and understanding
Elif Shafak
Financial Times
Di Giovanni's eloquent, devastating book tells the stories of individual suffering behind the dreadful statistics of a conflict for which there seems no hope of resolution
Daily Mail