We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan

In my opinion...

What can I say about this debut novel that hasn’t already been said? Deservedly it has been receiving rave reviews both for the standard of writing and the issues covered.

It is a sensitive book with heart, set partly in 1960s Uganda following Hassan's story, and partly present-day London and Leicester with Sameer a young lawyer.

As the story develops we realise that the past and present for this family are entwined.

Far away from the stream of psychological thrillers I usually read, I lost myself in the descriptions of another world and was hooked by the wonderful characterisations.

It is so exciting to read a book like this- I learned from it & I loved it, what greater recommendation can there be?

Want to know more?

'You can't stop birds from flying, can you, Sameer? They go where they will...'

1960s UGANDA. Hasan is struggling to run his family business following the sudden death of his wife. Just as he begins to see a way forward, a new regime seizes power, and a wave of rising prejudice threatens to sweep away everything he has built.

Present-day LONDON. Sameer, a young high-flying lawyer, senses an emptiness in what he thought was the life of his dreams. Called back to his family home by an unexpected tragedy, Sameer begins to find the missing pieces of himself not in his future plans, but in a past he never knew.

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Moving between two continents over a troubled century, We Are All Birds of Uganda is an immensely resonant novel that explores racial tensions, generational divides and what it means to belong.

It is the first work of fiction by Hafsa Zayyan, co-winner of the inaugural #Merky Books New Writers' Prize, and one of the most exciting young novelists of today.

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My rating...

An excitable 5 glasses..

Thank you @MerkyBooks & LoveReading for my ARC