We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky

We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky by Mara Kardas-Nelson has been shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize. This is a deeply reported work of journalism that explores the promises and perils of global microfinance, told through the eyes of those who work in small-scale lending and of women borrowers in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

There's a famous story about how microfinance started. In the mid-1970s, Muhammad Yunus, an American-trained Bangladeshi economist, met a poor female stoolmaker who needed money to expand her business. Yunus lent $27 to 42 women, hoping small credit would help them to pull themselves out of poverty. Soon, Yunus's Grameen Bank was born, and very small but often high-interest loans for poor people took off. In 2006, Yunus and the Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work on anti-poverty lending.

But there's a problem with this story. There are mounting concerns that these small loans are as likely to bury poor people in debt as they are to pull them from poverty, with borrowers facing consequences such as jail time and forced land sales. Hundreds have even reportedly committed suicide.

What happened? Did microfinance take a wrong turn, or was microfinance flawed from the beginning?

We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky is a story about unintended consequences, blind optimism, and the decades-long ramifications of seemingly small policy choices, rooted in the stories of women borrowers in Sierra Leone. Mara Kardas-Nelson asks: What happens when a single, financially focused solution to global inequity ignores the real drivers of poverty? Who stands to benefit and, more importantly, who gets left behind?

"An eye-opening debut expose ... Kardas-Nelson's crisp characterisations and novelistic storytelling bring clarity to a sprawling, shadowy history. The result is a devastating look at a disaster set into motion by misguided American policymakers." -Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A keen examination of the rise and fall in popularity of the microfinance loan system ... This thoughtful deep dive into the world of microfinance is both educative and heartbreaking." -Kirkus Reviews

"Through a dazzling, superbly paced combination of astute history and on-the-ground observation in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Mara Kardas-Nelson holds the claims of microfinance up to the light. I wish that every new idea touted as the solution to the world's problems had such a thoughtful and compassionate examination." -Adam Hochschild, bestselling author of American Midnight and King Leopold's Ghost