Somali "Secrets"

There is a document at the center of Secrets, a novel by acclaimed Somali author Nuruddin Farah. It first appears as part of a childhood prank, albeit a serious one. Then it disappears for long stretches of the story. 

Later, when it reappears, it changes the life of the book's protagonist, Kalaman. 

The story of Kalaman and his old flame Sholoongo is told primarily by him in the first person, although we get parts of it from the points of view of his lover, his mother and his grandfather. In the background of it all beats the outbreak of Somalia's bitter civil war: 

I can't bear the thought of generalizing. I am a person, a clan is a mob. Talk to me, sell me things, I am reasonable. Clans are not.