Yet as the world shifts around them — colonial tremors, Mau Mau rebellion, the birth-pangs of an independent Kenya — their childhood alliance is tested, twisted and nearly destroyed. The story begins in 1950s Kenya, a land shimmering with heat and political tension. The Mau Mau uprising simmers in the distance, and beneath its surface runs a quiet current of privilege and guilt. “When she reached the house, the sun had turned the morning air into a shimmering mirage of heat and dust devils,” she writes. As the girls grow up, the narrative stretches from colonial farms to London’s fashionable chaos, from isolated homesteads to bustling Nairobi streets.

Source: Daily Nation January 24, 2026 03:15 UTC