Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I have tried to get into this collection of short stories several times now and I just can't seem to sustain my interest to finish even one story. Sorry not for me.

Thanks to Oneworld and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not usually a huge reader of short stories but this sounded interesting. A collection of Own Voices short stories from the perspective of Ugandan migrants? Yup, sounds great. The glowing praise the author has received piqued my interest too.



The book is split roughly into two parts. The first tells the stories of multi-generational Ugandan migrants living in Britain and the second part tells the stories of those who have made the return to Uganda.

There are some tough issues explored here including domestic abuse, alcoholism, racism, sexual abuse and the lingering impacts of colonialism.

As with all short story collections, some are better than others. I enjoyed the first few stories in particular, but I started to lose interest as I progressed through the book. In particular, the story about the dogs left me completely bamboozled.

There were some really interesting character perspectives but looking at the collection as a whole, it all felt a bit disjointed. Although the stories were distinct, I feel like a short story collection should still feel coherent. This book was absolutely fine (except the dog story) but nothing hugely exciting.

The author is clearly very talented, and I enjoyed her writing style. I think I might prefer to read a novel of hers rather than short stories so I will keep an eye out for any work she produces in future.

I found this, sadly, highly uneven and fairly unimpressive. I adore short story collections but have fallen a bit out of the habit of reading them this year. This collection was not the best choice to try to get back into the groove of reading them. Now, these are not bad stories by any means but for the most part they did not quite work for me. Part of that is down to genre preference; I like my short stories either fabulist or hyper realistic and these were neither, combining endlessly bleak glimpses into difficult lives with stories that just left me scratching my head (there is a story told completely from the perspective of a dog – something that was never going to work for me outside of flash fiction). I found the stories’ endings often abrupt in a way that did not strike me as intentional. The language is straight forward in a way that worked for me sometimes – when this book felt real and like it could be non-fiction – and sometimes not – when the stories felt unfinished.

However, when the stories worked for me, they were absolutely incredible. I adored both “Something Inside So Strong” and “Malik’s Door” a whole lot – if all these stories had been as sharp and poignant as these I would have been in love. These stories were not only cleverly constructed, the characters felt real and interesting, and the emotional heart made me hurt.

This is a collection of short stories from Ugandan writer Jennifer Makumbi about the experiences of (mostly) women emigrating from Africa to live in Manchester, and the struggles that they encounter immersed in a foreign culture. The stories in the second half of the book deal with emigrants returning home to find that they no longer quite fit in Uganda either.

These stories reminded me very much of Junot Diaz, in that Makumbi is adept at immersing the reader in the language and culture of an ethnic enclave living in a foreign city. Like Diaz, she has some recurring characters that she builds a narrative arc for across different stories. The collection is carefully put together and shines quite a different light on the emigrant experience.

A collection of 12 short stories, divided into two sections - one half concentrating on Ugandans’ experiences in Britain, specifically Manchester, and the other on Ugandans returning to Uganda after some years away. Some characters feature several times, the main one being Poonah - a delightful creation with a subtle, wry take on life - and the stories involving her are my favourites.

The stories are political with a light, unchallenging touch, particularly so where the colonial British legacy in Uganda is concerned. One entire story, though, ‘My brother, Bwemage’, is concerned with recent Chinese involvement in Uganda, its economic and social ramifications.

The author writes in a cool, unfaltering style that engaged me straightaway. She presents her characters’ experiences and dilemmas with insight and delicacy, and the final sentences of many of the stories are especially poignant. There is a deal of Ugandan vocabulary in the dialogue with no translation into English - I didn’t find it difficult to understand what was meant and I think it often gave a sense of the vibrancy of Ugandan family life - some of the dialogue is priceless. An entertaining collection that introduced me to a country, the people who left it and those who returned, and a culture that I knew little about. I’d recommend it highly.