Dust
Kenya, 2007. Odidi Oganda, running for his life, is gunned down in the streets of Nairobi. His sister, Ajany, and their father bring his body back home, to a crumbling colonial house in northern Kenya. But the peace they seek is hard to find: the murder has stirred deeply buried memories of colonial violence, of the killing-sprees of the Mau Mau uprising, and the shocking political assassination of Tom Mboya in 1969. When a young Englishman appears, searching for his missing father, another story, of love, or at least a connection, begins.
This is a spellbinding state of the nation novel about Kenya, showing how the violence of the past informs the violence and disorder of the present. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor's memorable characters; Ajany's mother, deranged with grief and past violations, the Trader, embodying the timeless nomadic traders of Sudan, and Odidi himself, who transcended his past, came to success, and then a tragic end, are enchanting. Owuor reveals to us a new Kenya, a Kenya of bloodshed but also of modernity, suffused with a spirit world only half-remembered. This is a country where the characters listen so acutely for what is not said, and for the voices from the distant and recent past.
| UPC | 2030301005766 |
|---|---|
| Author | Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor |
| ISBN | 9781783781317 |
| Publisher | Granta Books |
| Weight (kg) | 0.5 |
| SKU | 2030301005766 |
‘Epic, poetry-soaked... the most important novel to come out of Africa since Halfofa Yellow Sun’
Observer Books of the Year
Kenya, 2007. Odidi Oganda is running for his life when he is gunned down in the streets of Nairobi. His sister Ajany and their father bring his body back to their crumbling colonial house in the north. But the peace they seek is hard to find: Odidi’s murder has stirred deeply buried memories of colonial violence, of the killing-sprees of the Mau Mau uprising, and the shocking political assassination of Tom Mboya in 1969. When a young Englishman comes searching for his missing father another story — of love or at least connection — begins.
A unique family saga and a spellbinding story of a country, Dust reveals to us a new Kenya, a Kenya of bloodshed but also of modernity, suffused with a spirit world only half-remembered.
‘Dazzling... Owuor’s prose is a physical expression of the landscape it evokes... [A] luscious debut’
New York Times
‘Epic in scope, this is a big, big unforgettable book, full of love and full of pain... This is the novel my twenty-first century has
been waiting for, for our world in these seismic times’
Binyavanga Wainaina, author of One Day I Will Write About This Place
‘Refreshing... Simultaneously earthy and other-worldly. Owuor is a welcome new voice’Â
Metro
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