Kololo Hill

Product Information

What was refreshing was that each and every character was well-rounded, we were given the chance to really get to know them all, every person just as important as the rest.

Not many books explore what it was like for Ugandan Indians under Idi Amin’s rule so it was interesting but also heartbreaking to find out more about this not-very-well-known period in history.I always admire fiction that can illuminate a lesser-known part of history while also managing to tell a compelling and very human story. However, I adore the mutual respect that they have for each other and the way that their relationship deepens throughout the book! The story masterfully shifts between the past in Uganda and the family’s new life in England, highlighting the stark differences between their once comfortable existence and the hardships they face as refugees. Their future is now, however, sealed, the future is in London, which of course is so different (think Arnos Grove and a Ford Cortina) to Uganda.

The conflict here is quieter but no less urgent, as individuals come to question not only their culpability in past events but their choices going into the future, with the realisation that dire circumstances can sometimes be the precursor to change for the better. The author has done an amazing job in painting a complete picture, which is painful, gruesome, and heartbreaking, but a real story of the life of Ugandan Asians at that time.Evocative of the renowned scenes of panic when American departed Saigon three years later in April 1975, the Ugandan Asians had to fend for themselves (and the numbers were huge). Once again, Shah’s observational skills are admirable, with 1970s London skillfully conjured via both the general and specific details as seen through the eyes of the unfamiliar.