QUICK DELIVERY
Swift dispatch
-20%
Back to products
A Rose and Its Thorns by Valery Chebet
KShs1,000.00 KShs850.00
Swara Magazine (Jan – March) 2026
KShs1,000.00 KShs800.00
In stock
Discover compelling stories and delight in breathtaking photography that celebrates East Africa’s biodiversity, conservation efforts, and safari travel – Featured in the latest issue of Swara Magazine, the voice of conservation in East Africa.
Now available @amazonkindle @nuria_thehoneststore @bookstopltd @juttsonsbookshop @chandaranafoodplus @onn_the_way Enquire: 0746463214
In this issue (January-March) 2026
Viola Clausnitzer & Melita Vamberger warn of accelerating threats to Pemba’s irreplaceable Ngezi Forest.
Monica Bond examines how long-term, science-led research is guiding community based conservation and stronger protection for giraffes across East Africa.
Shalini Bhalla-Lucas follows the birds – from the Rift Valley to Lake Victoria – revealing Kenya’s rich avifauna, changing habitats, and the quiet rewards of patient, locally guided birding.
Paul Gacheru takes a hard look at Kenya’s vanishing vultures, the ripple effects on ecosystems and human health, and the bold solutions giving hope for their survival.
Joyce Chimbi exposes how bushmeat hunting and illegal wildlife trade are ensnaring Africa’s wildlife, with Uganda’s Murchison Falls spotlighting a growing conservation crisis.
Roger N Scoon explores how rifting, volcanoes and rainfall patterns shape the routes and rhythms of the great Mara Serengeti migration.
Santiago Legarre revisits Samburu National Reserve, tracing its early travel history, distinctive wildlife encounters, and the quiet revival of a long-standing riverside lodge.
Shipping
Reviews (0)
Vendor Info
Vendor Information
- Store Name: East African Wildlife Society
- Vendor: ALEX KIMEU
- No ratings found yet!
More Products
Swara magazine April – June 2025
Swara Magazine,
The voice of conservation in East Africa.
Championing for the conservation and sustainable use of our environment and natural resources.
Providing essential conservation insights and sparking vital discussions on the best strategies for protecting East Africa's rich biodiversity and wildlife heritage.
In this April - June 2025 issue of Swara;
Discover bespoke insights on;
- Lake victoria's escalating biodiversity crisis.
- Uganda's Untamed Safari Jewel - Kidepo valley national park.
- How Uganda's Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is restoring the country's rhino population.
- How wildlife corridors in Kenyan Laikipia plateau are mitigating human-wildlife conflict.
- Lorreine Carneiro's passion for wildlife photography and conservation.
Swara Magazine October – December 2025
Swara Magazine,
The voice of conservation in East Africa.
Championing for the conservation and sustainable use of our environment and natural resources.
Providing essential conservation insights and sparking vital discussions on the best strategies for protecting East Africa's rich biodiversity and wildlife heritage.
In this October - December 2025 issue of Swara;
Discover bespoke insights on;
- Rare birds of the Usambara mountains in Northern Tanzania.
- IUCN's discovery on giraffe species and how its reshaping the future of their conservation.
- How Tech is protecting Kenya’s Black rhinos in Maasai mara.
- Local communities in Kenya’s Arid Garissa County are protecting the Hirola Antelope.
- Safari Destinations in Tsavo East featuring Ashnil Aruba Lodge, where savannah meets serenity.
- The Elewana Experience, touring Meru national park.
Swara magazine January – March 2025
Swara Magazine is a quarterly publication of the East African Wild Life Society, a non-profit organization founded in 1961 to promote the conservation and sustainable use of the environment and natural resources within the region through awareness creation and advocacy.
In this January - March 2025 issue of Swara;
Conservation Features;
• Felix Pattron Explores the world of illegal wildlife Trade, understanding human motivations to curb on demand for illegal wildlife products to protect endangered species.
• Lucy Vigne, Christopher Muriithi and Stephen Njenga Explores how local communities are transforming Oloolua Forest into a thriving model for conservation and sustainable use.
• Joyce chimbi: The Blue forest of Vanga, A story of how communities are fighting against climate change in a remote village along the Kenya's coastline.
• Rupi Mangat Questions whether conservation efforts can help the Angolan primate Fight for Survival in her article entitled Diani's Forgotten Primates.
• Moffadal Shabir: Tales of the Elephant Snout Fish as a masterpiece of Evolution in Peril - from an his extra ordinary journey along the mara river.
• Rupi Mangat: Tales of the Mt. Elgon Elephants: A story of Tragedy to Hope. How a Limping elephant and her calf are raising funds for awareness for coexistence in Africa's mountain caves.
Biodiversity and Paddock diary features
• Muffadal Shabbir Alibhai recounts the fascinating journey of the Elephant Snout Fish, a resilient and enigmatic species struggling to survive amidst the challenges of Africa's changing aquatic landscapes.
• Rupi Mangat recounts how Chemukung, a rescued elephant on Mount Elgon, became a symbol of hope and a fundraiser for wildlife conservation.
• Jonathan and Angela Scott delve into the fascinating evolution of the Maasai Mara, exploring its journey from a big-game hunting destination to a beacon of conservation, community empowerment, and sustainable tourism.
• Simon Odhiambo and Kevin Maimba embark on a birding adventure in Laikipia’s Mugie Conservancy, capturing the region’s vibrant avian diversity.
On Safari, Portfolio and Rear window features,
• Brian Finch questions the future of traditional bird field guides in a world increasingly dominated by digital birding apps.
• Gideon Bett delves into the story of Chimpundu Lodge, where luxury meets conservation in the heart of Uganda’s Kibale National Park.
• Jade Gosrani, A Wildlife photographer shares how her lens captures the beauty of African nature to inspire conservation.
• Santiago Legarre explores the wonders of Samburu National Reserve and highlights its wildlife, landscapes, and welcoming sights.
Join Us in Preserving Nature,
By Supporting Swara Magazine.
Despite our unwavering commitment, the relentless rise in production costs threatens to silence our voice. We refuse to let financial constrains dim our impact on shaping environmental policy and safeguarding our natural heritage. To this regard, we're reaching out to you, our cherished readers to stand with us in this critical moment. Your support through Swara subscription or donation will ensure that we continue to provide essential conservation insights and fuel discussions on the best strategies for protecting East Africa's rich biodiversity and wildlife heritage. Every contribution, no matter the size will empower us to sustain our mission and amplify our efforts in advocating for thriving and sustainable ecosystems.
https://eawildlife.org/join-and-donate/donate/
Promo code: alex2025
Email: alex.kimeu@eawildlife.org
Whatsapp: +254 746 463 214
Special Marine Edition: Swara Magazine (July – September)2026
SWARA Magazine
July–September 2026 Special Marine Edition,
Dive into a special marine-focused edition of SWARA Magazine, East Africa’s leading conservation publication, produced to commemorate the historic 11th Our Ocean Conference (OOC11) held in Mombasa, Kenya—the first time this global gathering has taken place on African soil.
This issue explores the challenges, innovations, and inspiring conservation efforts shaping the future of the Western Indian Ocean and East Africa’s coastal ecosystems. Through expert analysis, compelling storytelling, and stunning photography, readers gain unique insights into the people and initiatives working to safeguard our oceans for future generations.
Swara magazine (April – June)2026: Pangolin Protection in the Maasai Mara.
In this powerful issue of Swara, journey across East Africa’s most extraordinary landscapes—where wildlife, communities, and conservation collide in a race against time.
From pangolin protection in the Maasai Mara to the hidden biodiversity of Kenya’s Suguta Valley, this edition uncovers the stories shaping the future of conservation. Dive into the Indian Ocean to explore the mesmerizing partnerships between anemones and anemonefish, and discover how coastal communities are safeguarding the Shimoni–Vanga seascape, one of Kenya’s most important marine ecosystems.
Blending science, storytelling, and striking field insights, Swara connects you directly to the people and ecosystems at the frontlines of conservation.
Whether you’re passionate about wildlife, climate, travel, or sustainability, this issue offers a compelling, on-the-ground perspective from one of the most important ecological regions on Earth.
Read it. Experience it. Be part of the conservation story.
Swara magazine July – September 2025
Swara Magazine, The voice of conservation in East Africa. Championing for the conservation and sustainable use of our environment and natural resources. Providing essential conservation insights and sparking vital discussions on the best strategies for protecting East Africa's rich biodiversity and wildlife heritage.
In this July - September 2025 issue of Swara;
Discover bespoke insights on;
- The marvels of Tanzania’s Usambara Mountains
- How Kenya’s lungfish survives drought underground
- Oceans in Peril: East Africa steps up
- A new walking trail in the Aberdares
- Why Kenya’s cheetahs don’t belong in India
Related products
Dinner With Mugabe by Heidi Holland
This penetrating, timely portrait of Robert Mugabe is the psycho-biography of a man whose once-brilliant career has ruined Zimbabwe and cast shame on the African continent.
Heidi Holland's tireless investigation begins with her having dinner with Mugabe, the freedom fighter, and ends in a searching interview with Zimbabwe's president more than 30 years later.
The author charts Mugabe's gradual self-destruction, and uncovers the complicity of some of the most respectable international players in the Zimbabwe tragedy. Probing the mystery of Africa's loyalty to one of its worst dictators, Holland explores the contradictions that cloud the life of a man who had embodied the continent's promise.
The Ghosts of Happy Valley: Searching for the Lost World of Africa’s Infamous Aristocrats by Juliet Barnes
‘Happy Valley’ was the name given to the region of Kenya’s Central Highlands where a community of affluent, hedonistic white expatriates settled between the wars. Including the writer Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen).
The pioneering aviator Beryl Markham and the troubled socialite Idina Sackville whose life was told in Frances Osborne’s bestselling The Bolter, the Happy Valley set’s notoriety was sealed in 1931 with the sensational – and still unsolved - murder of the Earl of Errol, the investigation of which laid bare the extent of the set’s decadence and irresponsibility, and made for another bestselling book in James Fox’s White Mischief.
But what is left now? Juliet Barnes, who has lived in Kenya for many years, has set out to explore Happy Valley in a remarkable and indefatigable archaeological quest to find the homes and haunts of this extraordinary and vanished set of people – grand residences like Clouds up in the hills that once hosted opulent and scandalous parties. With the help of African guides, and guided by the memories of elderly expats she tracks down to the Muthiaga old enough to have first-hand memories of the likes of Idina and Lord Errol and the lives they led, what she finds - ruins reclaimed by luxuriant bush, tumbledown dwellings in which an African family ekes a subsistence living, or even a modest school – is a revelation of the state of modern Africa that makes the gilded era of the Happy Valley set seem even more fantastic. A book to set alongside such singular evocations of Africa and its strange colonial history as The Africa House, Happy Valley: The Biography is a mesmerising blend of travel narrative, social history and personal quest.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Juliet Barnes
The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai
Brief Summary
Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, offers a refreshingly unique perspective on the challenges facing Africa, even as she calls for a moral revolution among Africans themselves, who, she argues, are culturally deracinated, adrift between worlds.The troubles of Africa today are severe and wide-ranging. Yet what we see of them in the media, more often than not, are tableaux vivantes connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation.
Wangari Maathai presents a different vision, informed by her three decades as an environmental activist and campaigner for democracy.
She illuminates the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, and offers "hardheaded hope” and "realistic options” for change and improvement. With clarity of expression, Maathai analyzes the most egregious "bottlenecks to development in Africa,” occurring at the international, national, and individual levels–cultural upheaval and enduring poverty among them–and deftly describes what Africans can and need to do for themselves, stressing all the while responsibility and accountability.Impassioned and empathetic, The Challenge for Africa is a book of immense importance.
"
"
ISBN:9780307390288
Author:Wangari Maathai
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
Nine years before the Senate campaign that made him one of the most influential and compelling voices in American politics, Barack Obama published this lyrical, unsentimental, and powerfully affecting memoir, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller when it was reissued in 2004.
Dreams from My Father tells the story of Obama’s struggle to understand the forces that shaped him as the son of a black African father and white American mother—a struggle that takes him from the American heartland to the ancestral home of his great-aunt in the tiny African village of Alego.
Obama opens his story in New York, where he hears that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has died in a car accident.
The news triggers a chain of memories as Barack retraces his family’s unusual history: the migration of his mother’s family from small-town Kansas to the Hawaiian islands; the love that develops between his mother and a promising young Kenyan student, a love nurtured by youthful innocence and the integrationist spirit of the early sixties; his father’s departure from Hawaii when Barack was two, as the realities of race and power reassert themselves; and Barack’s own awakening to the fears and doubts that exist not just between the larger black and white worlds but within himself.
Propelled by a desire to understand both the forces that shaped him and his father’s legacy, Barack moves to Chicago to work as a community organizer.
There, against the backdrop of tumultuous political and racial conflict, he works to turn back the mounting despair of the inner city. His story becomes one with those of the people he works with as he learns about the value of community, the necessity of healing old wounds, and the possibility of faith in the midst of adversity.
Barack’s journey comes full circle in Kenya, where he finally meets the African side of his family and confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life. Traveling through a country racked by brutal poverty and tribal conflict, but whose people are sustained by a spirit of endurance and hope, Barack discovers that he is inescapably bound to brothers and sisters living an ocean away—and that by embracing their common struggles he can finally reconcile his divided inheritance. A searching meditation on the meaning of identity in America, Dreams from My Father might be the most revealing portrait we have of a major American leader—a man who is playing, and will play, an increasingly prominent role in healing a fractious and fragmented nation."
Nairobi Heat by Mukoma Wa Ngugi
A young and beautiful white woman is murdered in the US, and the prime suspect is former Rwandan school headmaster Joshua - a hero who had risked his life to save the innocent during Rwanda's genocide. Ishmael, an African American detective, must investigate the case by plunging himself into Joshua's past.
He travels to Kenya, where Joshua once lived as a refugee, and fi nds himself unearthing his own African identity as he uncovers this violent crime. Kenyan author Mukoma wa Ngugi's debut novel is a gripping and hard-hitting detective thriller that questions race, identity and class.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:M?koma wa Ng?g?
Operation Linda Nchi
The book does not cover all aspects of Operational Art as pertains to Operation "Linda Nchi" [ swahili for safeguard or protect the Country ], as some of the details are still classified and the overall operation against Al Shabaab is still a work in progress., ie. it covers the Operational Art aspects of macroscopic maneuver, operational approach and operational objectives. But little information is revealed as pertains to Operational Logistics and the extent of disruption that is still required against Al Shabaab Operations in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
Indeed the foreward by His Excellency Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, C.G.H, the President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander in Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces, appreciates the fact that the war against Al Shabaab is still ongoing – in other instances he has stated "...for as long as it takes....”
The book is described as the "idea” of the former Chief of Kenya Defence Forces (CDF), General (Dr.) Julius Karangi, who at the time of his active service felt that the campaign against Al Shabaab should be documented in form of a publicly available book.
This was a unique idea for an African Military Force at the present time, but there are significant past conflicts documented in books especially around the colonial era, struggles for independence and post-independence episodes of guerilla warfare. An example of past documentation and appreciation of history that is declining, is that in the 1950s to 1960s, students in Kenyan schools learnt about General Paul Emil von Lettow Voerbeck and "The Great War".
This is despite the fact that Kenya was a British colony. Given the number of Kenya Defence Forces troops that have fallen to "water hole" ambushes near or inside Somalia, and the nature of the conflict in Somalia, Northern Nigeria [ Boko Haram ] and Central African Republic [ Lords Resistance Army ], it may be helpful if the Kenyan military was to dig deeper into history and reclaim the many lost lessons.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Professor Peter Kagwanja Dr. Monica Juma Colonel Pius T. Migue Lieutenant Colonel Charles O. Imbiakha Major Daniel Mugoro Major David Anachoni Major Johannes Kimwele
Belonging in Africa
When Sara and Sam fall in love, they presume Sara's white European skin and Sam's black African skin will not be of interest in 1978 Nairobi, the cosmopolitan and free-thinking capital of Kenya where they both live. They are wrong. Soon they must face painful prejudices from the outside world, as well as their own families. They also slowly realize that unexpected deep-rooted differences exist between them.Sara and her Dutch expat parents have happily settled in Kenya for a few years, but this is only the latest in a long list of countries they called home. Soon Sara's father will be transferred to a new position, and the family must move to a new country again.But things are different for Sara this time. She is 18 years old, and absolutely certain she belongs in Kenya. She plans to stay forever--especially after she falls passionately in love with Sam.After all, on the surface of it, Sara and Sam have a great deal in common. They both come from comfortable middle-class families. They attend excellent schools as academic high achievers. They balance on the cusp of adulthood, and have every reason to think their futures will be bright. But soon enough, the differences between them are too apparent to be ignored, even by them. And this is only the start of the ordeals Sam and Sara must overcome.Sara is a pampered only child. Sam is the eldest son of the first wife of a polygamous Ugandan family. Sara does not at first understand the significance of his position. It takes time for her to see how deeply his young life is influenced by the many responsibilities that rest on his shoulders.The lovers suffer from prejudices from people close to them, as well as from strangers. They are startled to discover that both sets of parents oppose their union, and believe their child should find a better partner within their own cultures.Perhaps most complicated of all is the slow realization that Sara and Sam have very different expectations of each other. Sam presumes he has certain rights as the man in the relationship. Sara does not automatically subscribe to his position of leader, or consider it her duty to follow.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Jo Alkemade
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Brief Summary
Fifteen-year-old Kambili’s world is circumscribed by the high walls and frangipani trees of her family compound. Her wealthy Catholic father, under whose shadow Kambili lives, while generous and politically active in the community, is repressive and fanatically religious at home.When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili’s father sends her and her brother away to stay with their aunt, a University professor, whose house is noisy and full of laughter. There, Kambili and her brother discover a life and love beyond the confines of their father’s authority. The visit will lift the silence from their world and, in time, give rise to devotion and defiance that reveal themselves in profound and unexpected ways. This is a book about the promise of freedom; about the blurred lines between childhood and adulthood; between love and hatred, between the old gods and the new.
"
"
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann
At the age of twenty-five, Kuki Gallman, divorced and badly injured in a devastating car accident, left Italy to convalesce in Africa with the man who would become her second husband.
Enchanted by the land, they established a vast ranch on the Laikipia plateau in Kenya. But Africa's splendor came with a price. Filled with pain and joy, beauty and drama, Gallman's haunting memoir "captures perfectly the magic of Kenya"
An Ordinary Man
April 2014 marks the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide--Read more about the conflict and the amazing life story of the man who inspired the film Hotel Rwanda in this remarkable account
Readers who were moved and horrified by Hotel Rwanda will respond even more intensely to Paul Rusesabagina’s unforgettable autobiography. As Rwanda was thrown into chaos during the 1994 genocide, Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, turned the luxurious Hotel Milles Collines into a refuge for more than 1,200 Tutsi and moderate Hutu refugees, while fending off their would-be killers with a combination of diplomacy and deception.
In An Ordinary Man, he tells the story of his childhood, retraces his accidental path to heroism, revisits the 100 days in which he was the only thing standing between his "guests” and a hideous death, and recounts his subsequent life as a refugee and activist.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Paul Rusesabagina
Delicious Kenya Cookbook 2
Welcome to 21st century Kenyan cuisine or, to be less dramatic, modern Kenyan cooking. Now, more than ever before, you can prepare all types of food from any part of the world, right in your kitchen.
All it takes is the right recipes and a little spark of adventure to try something exciting and different. We have partnered easy-to-do international cuisine with some of our own healthy, wholesome foods to create meals that are simply sumptuous. This book is a collection of dishes that combine to form full meals.
There are main dishes, their accompaniments and complementing sauces and salads. A section is dedicated to amazing, easy to make cakes developed from flours like amaranth, sweet potato and cassava that can be served for dessert or tea.
There is a variety of creative, nutritious pancakes perfect for packed meals; and new flavourful porridge for breakfast. Clear step-by-step photographs will guide you through the recipes, showing how to marinate, whisk, pan-fry, bake and make sauces like a professional.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Phyllis Maleche
Unbowed by Wangari Maathai
Born in a rural Kenyan village in 1940, Wangari Maathai was already an iconoclast as a child, determined to get an education even though most African girls then were uneducated. In her remarkable and inspiring autobiography, she tells of her studies with Catholic missionaries, earning bachelors and master's degrees in the United States, and becoming the first woman both to earn a PhD and to head a university department in Kenya.
She tells of her numerous run-ins with the brutal government of Daniel arap Moi and of the political and personal reasons that compelled her, in 1977, to establish the Green Belt Movement, which spread from Kenya across Africa, and which helps restore indigenous forests while assisting rural women by paying them to plant trees in their villages.
Maathai's extraordinary courage and determination helped transform Kenya's government into the democracy in which she now serves as Deputy Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources and as a Member of Parliament. Eventually her achievement was internationally recognized in the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in recognition of her 'contribution to sustainable development, human rights, and peace'.
In Unbowed, we are in the presence of a hugely charismatic yet humble woman whose remarkable story carries with it an inspiring message of hope. Hers is an extraordinary story, spanning different worlds and changing times, and revealing what the courage, determination, tenacity and humour of one good woman can achieve; how as small a thing as planting a seedling and watering it can made all the difference in the world.
The State of Africa by Martin Meredith
Africa is forever on our TV screens, but the bad-news stories (famine, genocide, corruption) massively outweigh the good (South Africa). Ever since the process of de-colonialisation began in the mid-1950s, and arguably before, the continent has appeared to be stuck in a process of irreversible decline.
Constant war, improper use of natural resources and misappropriation of revenues and aid monies contribute to an impression of a continent beyond hope. How did we get here? What, if anything, is to be done?
Fully revised and updated and weaving together the key stories and characters of the last sixty years into a stunningly compelling and coherent narrative, Martin Meredith has produced the definitive history of how European ideas of how to organise 10,000 different ethnic groups has led to what Tony Blair described as the 'scar on the conscience of the world'.
Authoritative, provocative and consistently fascinating, this is the updated edition of the seminal book on one of the most important issues facing the West today."
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
The ideal introduction to the genius of Ernest Hemingway, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories" contains ten of Hemingway's most acclaimed and popular works of short fiction. Selected from "Winner Take Nothing, Men Without Women, " and "The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories.
This collection includes "The Killers," the first of Hemingway's mature stories to be accepted by an American periodical; the autobiographical "Fathers and Sons," which alludes, for the first time in Hemingway's career, to his father's suicide; "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," a "brilliant fusion of personal observation, hearsay and invention," wrote Hemingway's biographer, Carlos Baker; and the title story itself, of which Hemingway said: "I put all the true stuff in," with enough material, he boasted, to fill four novels. Beautiful in their simplicity, startling in their originality, and unsurpassed in their craftsmanship, the stories in this volume highlight one of America's master storytellers at the top of his form.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Ernest Hemingway
Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo
In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth. In fact, poverty levels continue to escalate and growth rates have steadily declined—and millions continue to suffer.
Provocatively drawing a sharp contrast between African countries that have rejected the aid route and prospered and others that have become aid-dependent and seen poverty increase, Moyo illuminates the way in which overreliance on aid has trapped developing nations in a vicious circle of aid dependency, corruption, market distortion, and further poverty, leaving them with nothing but the "need” for more aid.
Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing development of the world’s poorest countries that guarantees economic growth and a significant decline in poverty—without reliance on foreign aid or aid-related assistance.Dead Aid is an unsettling yet optimistic work, a powerful challenge to the assumptions and arguments that support a profoundly misguided development policy in Africa. And it is a clarion call to a new, more hopeful vision of how to address the desperate poverty that plagues millions.
Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
Longlisted for the Orange Prize and winner of the Betty Trask Award. For fans of Half of a Yellow Sun, a stunning novel set in 1930s Somalia spanning a decade of war and upheaval, all seen through the eyes of a small boy alone in the world. Aden, Yemen, 1935; a city vibrant, alive, and full of hidden dangers.
And home to Jama, a ten year-old boy. But then his mother dies unexpectedly and he finds himself alone in the world.
Jama is forced home to his native Somalia, the land of his nomadic ancestors. War is on the horizon and the fascist Italian forces who control parts of East Africa are preparing for battle. Yet Jama cannot rest until he discovers whether his father, who has been absent from his life since he was a baby, is alive somewhere. And so begins an epic journey which will take Jama north through Djibouti, war-torn Eritrea and Sudan, to Egypt.
And from there, aboard a ship transporting Jewish refugees just released from German concentration camps, across the seas to Britain and freedom. This story of one boy's long walk to freedom is also the story of how the Second World War affected Africa and its people; a story of displacement and family
Reviews
Clear filtersThere are no reviews yet.