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Sun Rising in Kambi
Fresh out of high school, Ndombi dares to chase a different path in Kambi slums. He forms a theatre group to escape the lure of the Baghdad Boys gang. A chance encounter with an injured Indian girl turns his life upside down, as it tests his loyalty to his family and friends. As tensions flare and betrayal creeps into his inner circle, Ndombi must decide what, and who, is worth fighting for. This is a gripping tale of affection, ambition, and resilience set against a backdrop of slum life, where Ndombi pays the cost of dreaming big in a world that demands one plays small.
Reader Comments
Through deft prose and sharp dialogue, Ndavula pulls the reader into the sensory and psychological worlds of two friends who share a love for theater and a life in the slums. While seeking out opportunities to fund their play, they befriend a kid from the nearby affluent neighborhood at which point the socio-economic disparities in their home city are made glaringly real. With each unexpected turn, each setback, we are rooting more and more for the show to go on. Both entertaining and richly layered, Sun Rising in Kambi offers a tale about the love of art, the power of friendship, and the hope that drives dogged persistence. A must read. - Michael Don, Professor of English at George Mason University and author of Partners and Strangers.
Emma the Explorer: A Journey to Kisii
Emma did not know what to expect on her December holiday journey to Kisii—until a tiny kitten changed everything.
From the steep Rift Valley cliff that gave her butterflies in the stomach and a smile, to earning an explorer’s badge and picking tea leaves in the expansive green hills, Emma discovers magic in the small moments. However, when her beloved kitten disappears, she must learn to be patient, brave, hopeful—and to make the most of the time she has.
Set in the beautiful hills of Kisii and inspired by a real stray kitten, Emma the Explorer: The Journey to Kisii is a warm, gentle adventure about family, friendship, and the surprising ways love finds us.
This is perfect for readers, ages 7 to10 years, who enjoy heartfelt stories, love animals, and like quiet adventures full of wonder.
What if the friend you did not expect… became the one you will never forget?
Fortune of the Unfortunate
In Fortune of the Unfortunate, the author provides extensive and well-woven storytelling of day-to-day lives centred around themes of love and kindness, love choices; love and culture; love, loss and depression; love and sacrifice; and more such as mistrust and betrayal.
For instance, in The Fortune of the Unfortunate, Tracy, a 15-year-old royal girl is moved by the sufferings of unfortunate street children. It inspires her to take extraordinary steps to bring fortune to the unfortunate street families.
Christine, in Beneath the Smile is down to tears after learning about her mother’s death. She sets off on the journey to attend the funeral with her husband and daughter only to learn that her mother is not dead but in the ICU. She ends up in the same hospital when she passes out. In her sick bed, she had flashbacks to her days on campus and how she strayed.
In Eternal Promise, Chris loses his wife and daughter in a car crash, a traumatic experience that sends him into depression. Chris fights to hide the depression from his employees and his mother. More and more, he devotes his time to the company he started with his wife, showing little interest in loving again even as his secretary persistently tries to ‘bring him to the path of steady life’.
In Friends in the Circle, college friends engage in a storytelling session that leads to confessions of love and the spilling of their lives’ secrets. Michael reminisces about his first love, narrating his tale with fondness and sorrow. On each count of account, Michael and Lien’s interest in each other intensified.
… and many more!
Readers will find these stories, all drawn from the realities of contemporary life, compelling.
Khole and Other Untold Stories from A...
Khole and Other Untold Stories from Africa, an anthology of short stories, is based on Chinua Achebe’s postulation about the need for African writers to refrain from Afropolitan rejection of African subjects. This would enable audiences to taste “the balance of stories of the world’s peoples” because, for centuries, readers had been served with a single Western story. The contributors in this collection return to the African past and explore positive attributes of African culture.
Nyongesa’s Khole explores the potential of African spiritual healing in contrast to modern medicine. Muruli Muhandi, in When Kumtoto Dances, is on the pre-eminence of African spirituality as personified in altars that are of great influence in African lives. Robert Rotich’s My Grandfather’s Old Coin is on Kipsisgis marriage rites, while Felix Okuku explores the impact of the spiritual among the Mijikenda of Kenya. The stories, as well as the others in this collection, affirm Edward Blyden’s postulation that African peoples are destined to make an outstanding spiritual contribution to the world.
What Others Say
Khole and Other Stories from Africa is an invaluable textual artifact that preserves the rich oral traditions of African societies. It is a platform for historically marginalized voices and celebrates the resilience of African epistemologies in the face of relentless cultural imperialism. The anthology challenges readers to engage with the complexities of African spiritual and cultural systems, offering insights that transcend mere folkloric appreciation and delve into the deeper philosophical underpinnings of African life. - Prof. John Mugubi, Kenyatta University.
Tell me a Story
Folk tales were a major ingredient of community lore in traditional society, a craft that is almost forgotten in modern society. Not only are the stories lost but with the loss goes the cultural and social activities that were the fabric that undergirded the craft and strengthened community bonds. Tell Me a Story draws from this traditional storytelling culture. It is an attempt to preserve that unique craft of storytelling, the stories and the lessons that came with the tales. It is noteworthy that such traditional folklore was not only entertaining but was also a source of moral lessons that informed society’s day-to-day well-being.
The collection of ten folktales touches on societal aspects such as trust, greed, friendship, respect, and deception, among many others. In the process, the author gives readers a glimpse of the foundations that kept society strong. The lessons, therein, are as relevant today as they were in times that have passed, underlining the fact that human beings have hardly changed despite advances made over many centuries.
What others say:
“Very imaginative with moral lessons that can be learnt from the conduct of the characters. Presented in the tone of pre-literate society storytelling, they take the reader on a captivating journey.” – Harriet Irungu, Editor and Student of Literature.
“This is an invaluable collection of stories that captures both the craft of storytelling and the moral lessons that come with the stories. It is a timely publication for modern times where values and community interest are on a downward slide.” – Anonymous
Moraa and Miya the Cat
Moraa and Miya the Cat is a story about a particular cat named Miya. Miya was a birthday gift for Moraa from Auntie Ngeneke. Moraa loved animals and so she loved the present, but Mr. Bundi, Moraa’s father, was not so thrilled about having a cat in the house. As the story progresses, Miya the cat changes Mr. Bundi’s attitude toward her as she helps the family in many ways. She first alerts them about a theft that was happening in their home and later warns the family about a snake that almost found its way to the house. In the end, we see the father, Mr. Bundi, embracing Miya the cat and welcoming her as part of the family.
The story is good as it is interesting and teaches the value of giving people the benefit of the doubt. It encourages young readers to love and take care of pets.
Jahenda the Teenager Mother
Jahenda, the Teenage Mother is a coming-of-age story about Jahenda, the protagonist and a Form-two student at Chavavo Secondary school, who believes education is her key to success. Like most teenage girls, she vows not to be distracted by teenage love, but when Alan, a handsome and charming young man, shows interest in her, she is tamed by his charm and falls head over heels in love with him. Yielding to the temptations of love, Jahenda makes the biggest blunder in her life when she becomes pregnant and, as a result, is expelled from school, an outcome which derails her dreams for success. That is not all! She is shunned by most people in her rural community and must confront the stigma of having a child outside wedlock. To make matters worse, when Alan, the very young man responsible for her pregnancy, dies unexpectedly after a snake bite, this young mother finds herself at a crossroads in her life. What makes Jahenda’s story a compelling read, therefore, is her ability to harness her inner ambitions to emerge from her fix by doing the unthinkable and defying societal norms to save herself. What a cautionary tale! Will this teen mother’s last act be her saving grace?
Many in One and Other Stories from Af...
Many in One and Other Stories is a convergence of stories by budding writers of both genders from diverse regions of Kenya. The anthology breaks the monotony of classical Kenyan writers and captures emerging voices on the Kenyan literary scene. This meticulous and careful selection has considered a range of subjects from post election violence, political animosity, national integration, greed, broken love and cultural alienation. Set in contemporary African settings with vivid characters, the stories seek to entertain, challenge, inform and chastise the readers.
With precision of eye and word, the writers in this anthology make lucid their creative territories. Ingenious and original, this anthology of resonant, assured and gratifying stories comes from a true connection with lived places and experiences accruing there-from. All the writers treasure language and deftly use its resources of metaphor, voice and syntax to explore their worlds and offer readers new knowledge about their worlds. I trust that readers will find this anthology a sizzling good yarn bubbling with edutainment.