Set in Uganda in 1972, an extraordinarily moving debut that tells the story of one family’s escape, when Amin forces them to leave: a story of loss and separation, but also ultimately of hope. As the book opens, Asha stumbles across bloody of evidence of the lengths Amin’s forces to which they would go. In 1972, Idi Amin declared that Britain would need to take responsibility for the Asians who were brought to Uganda.

Evocative of the renowned scenes of panic when American departed Saigon three years later in April 1975, the Ugandan Asians had to fend for themselves (and the numbers were huge). Idi Amin assumes power in Uganda in January 1971 and eighteen months later in August 1972, 50,000 Asians in Uganda are given nine weeks to get out of the country. the family moves from Kampala to London and the only differences Jaya notices are the weather and the supermarkets. A very powerful storyline — a family displaced from their home and struggling to get on with their new life continuously being haunted by the ghost of their pasts and mistakes they’ve made. And all the while, a terrible secret about the expulsion hangs over them, threatening to tear the family apart.

They show the emotional differences and distinct viewpoints within a family as they reminisce about their lost country and begin to make another their home.

There’s no build up to him taking control, it’s already happened, and his violence is already affecting their lives. I was just old enough to observe his corpulent face on the TV bulletins and comprehend the kind of man he was, namely a vile and cruel despot. Shock can often render people literally speechless and thus she keeps the vision of death and butchery to herself.As violence builds in the capital, the family flees to Britain, where a different type of violence welcomes them: racism. I particularly enjoyed Jaya, Pran’s mother, and the layered relationship she had with their loyal houseboy. The country rapidly descends into administrative anarchy as the supposed protectors (soldiers) became the aggressors thieving, raping, killing, with impunity.