Description
Promises are like tilapia from Lake Victoria - glittering, evasive... slippery.
Adjuna and Kagaba have scraped, begged, and borrowed money from friends and family to afford one airplane ticket and papers to travel to London. Educated in economics but unable to find work in his home country of Uganda, Kagaba plans to live in the United Kingdom at the behest of a relative by marriage who has promised to find him a good job, and quickly. As Kagaba rushes to meet his flight out of Kampala, Ajuna, feeling sick, is warned by her sister-in-law to get checked out for malaria.
With her husband now ensconced on the other side of the planet, Ajuna collapses and is rushed to the hospital only to discover life altering circumstances. Worried that the tenuous ties that keep them married will unravel during a separation that spans continents, Ajuna turns to friends and family for support. As her loneliness grows, the lines between help and something more begin to blur.
In the United Kingdom, Kagaba fights to overcome his limited visa and clarify his immigration status. Desperate to find work to care for Ajuna and to pay off debts, Kagaba confronts a maze of rules, bureaucracy, and frightening detention centers. This bewildering underbelly of immigration enforcement and the crooked systems developed to evade deportation have spawned a shadow world of exploitation and a class of people that live in constant fear on the legal margins. In the pressure cooker of London's immigrant community, Kagaba finds friends who can help - but to accept, he may unintentionally give up more of himself than Ajuna will tolerate.
Who we are and the relationships and promises we keep or break are profoundly tested by circumstance and small twists of fate. A heartfelt book that details the unintended consequences of fighting for a better life.
About the Author
Goretti Kyomuhendo is one of Uganda's leading novelists and founding director of the African Writers Trust. She was born and raised in Hoima, Western Uganda. Her novels include The First Daughter (1996), Secrets No More (1999), which won the Uganda National Literary Award for Best Novel in the same year. Goretti holds an MA degree in Creative Writing from the University of KwaZulu, Natal, South Africa, and taught creative writing in the same university in 2004.
Reviews
In Praise of Goretti Kyomuhendo's other works:
Waiting
"In a beautifully direct narration, [Kyomuhendo] is able to show her characters reacting to the horror that Amin's regime has put them through. While the story can be used pedagogically, the writing does not feel either syrupy or pedantic but instead profoundly realistic." -Library Journal
Whispers From Vera
"Whispers From Vera is one of Africa's timeless novels..." - Caroline Numuhire (Rwanda) Author of Between Wild and Free
Book Information
ISBN 9781960803221
Author Goretti Kyomuhendo
Format Paperback
Imprint Catalyst Books
Publisher Catalyst Books
