First published 2002
Bobby and Linda begin what should be a routine drive back to their compound after visiting the capital. Bobby works as a civil servant but harbors a secret attraction to local boys that fills him with guilt. Linda carries herself with the cold superiority of a colonial wife. Their journey takes them through an unnamed African nation torn apart by ethnic violence and ruled by brutality that echoes Idi Amin's Uganda. The landscape around them grows increasingly hostile. Squalor and bloodshed mark every mile. As they push deeper into this territory, the comfortable distance that has always protected them as privileged foreigners begins to collapse. The line separating them from the victims of this violence starts to blur. They discover that their status as outsiders may not shield them from becoming targets themselves. The car trip becomes a descent into a world where their assumptions about safety and superiority no longer hold.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, african-literature, contemporary
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, outsiders
Setting: Africa, Uganda
Period: 20th-century
247 pages · Paperback · Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Content warnings: colonialism, graphic-violence, racism