* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book. *

This is a collection of short stories from Ugandan writer Jennifer Makumbi about the experiences of (mostly) women emigrating from Africa to live in Manchester, and the struggles that they encounter immersed in a foreign culture. The stories in the second half of the book deal with emigrants returning home to find that they no longer quite fit in Uganda either.

These stories reminded me very much of Junot Diaz, in that Makumbi is adept at immersing the reader in the language and culture of an ethnic enclave living in a foreign city. Like Diaz, she has some recurring characters that she builds a narrative arc for across different stories. The collection is carefully put together and shines quite a different light on the emigrant experience. ( )