Fatboy and the Dancing Ladies 1
28 October 2013
In the imaginary yet recognizable East African country of Kuwisha, a crowd of interested parties shifts and jostles for position and advantage.
Fatboy and the Dancing Ladies 2
28 October 2013
The heart of the book is life in the shanty town of Kireba, the politics of international aid and the autocratic hierarchy that has often taken hold of fledging states.
Grudge-driven chip off the anti-apartheid block
10 November 2013
Children of the famous seldom have an easy upbringing. This is especially so if your parents happened to be white South Africans working for the overthrow of the apartheid state.
Last orders at Harrods 1
10 November 2013
"Buy this book or we shit in your car." Two African slum boys use a version of this threat – to great effect – as a way of fending off the police in Michael Holman's beautifully realised comic first novel, which may be one reason why he is planning to repeat it at the launch in Kenya of "Last orders at Harrods". But there is more to Mr. Holman's words than mere coprophilia.
Last Orders at Harrods 2
21 November 2013
Michael Holman's excellent and witty début novel is set in Kuwisha, a collapsing East African nation that occupies a space in the imagination somewhere between Kenya and Tanzania. Last Orders at Harrods, written by FT's former Africa editor, is thronged with characters whose vitality demands attention