First published 2023
In 1899, Hassanali walks toward morning prayers in a crumbling coastal town near Mombassa when a desert wanderer stumbles into his path. The collapsed Englishman is Martin Pearce, a writer and traveler who has somehow found his way to this remote corner of the British empire. Hassanali tends to the stranger until colonial officer Frederick Turner takes Pearce to recover at his home. When Pearce returns to thank his rescuer, he encounters Rehana, Hassanali's sister. Her beauty and melancholy captivate him completely. What begins as gratitude transforms into a passionate affair that defies every boundary of race, religion, and colonial society. Their love story sets off consequences that will ripple through three generations, from the height of British imperial power to the struggles of post-independence Africa. The forbidden relationship between Pearce and Rehana becomes the center of a story spanning continents and decades.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-literature, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forbidden-romance, star-crossed-lovers
Setting: Africa, British Empire, Mombassa
Period: 1899, Postcolonial
400 pages · Paperback · Random House Large Print
Content warnings: colonialism