Vanessa Henman is the aging writer at the heart of Maggie Gee’s luminous new novel, and she’s been invited to Uganda for the International Conference on African Writing. When she lands, it’s hard not to despise her, since she’s every bit the obnoxious foreigner she hopes she’s not: “Black tea, cold milk, English-style,” she tells a waiter, “slowly and with emphasis. Why can’t they ever get tea right?” When the Internet connection fails, she laments her “right to good communication.”
And yet, as the book unfolds, we see that Vanessa is not quite as she seems. This shouldn’t be a huge surprise, since Maggie Gee is no ordinary novelist…
Frank Bures 