Kololo Hill Read online

  To better understand Vijay’s experiences, I read Defying Disability by Mary Wilkinson and Disability and the Welfare State in Britain by Jameel Hampton. YouTube vloggers including Grace Mandeville provided an insight into life with an upper-arm disability.

  I also spoke at length to my parents and wider family to get a feel for East Africa from an Indian point of view. I’ll treasure the time I spent learning more about their own upbringings in Kenya and Tanzania, in the shadow of Idi Amin’s atrocities across the border.

  In May 2017, I visited Uganda as part of a research trip, to better understand what life might have been like for ordinary Ugandans. I understood instantly why people call this stunning country ‘the pearl of Africa’, as well as why it must have been so difficult to leave. The exact number of people who disappeared and were murdered by Idi Amin’s government is unknown; estimates suggest it could have been up to 500,000. He was responsible for the deaths of many people from rival tribes as well as anyone who dissented or disagreed with him. Although many Ugandan Asians were beaten, harassed or raped, the vast majority got out of the country alive.

  While there were some Asians who were friendly with house boys and girls, as well as others who they knew socially, I’ve not come across any stories of Asians protecting Ugandans the way Jaya and her family help December. However, I came across an anecdotal account of an Asian family helping to hide tribesmen caught up in the Mau Mau revolt against the British in Kenya. I used this as inspiration to explore the key relationships in my story.

  Writing a novel is tough, of course. But it was nothing compared to the life of my Nani, who as a teenager sailed for weeks across the ocean from India to Kenya with a baby, while the lights of the steamer ship were blacked out to protect them from the war raging across the world. Putting pen to paper, fingers to keyboard is not so extraordinary. Leaving one world behind to create a whole new one, sometimes twice over, that’s truly remarkable.

  I hope you enjoyed this book. If so, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a rating or review to help others discover Kololo Hill too.

  www.neemashah.com

  About the Author

  Neema Shah’s parents and grandparents left India to make their homes in East Africa and later in London, where Neema was born and lives. Kololo Hill is her debut and was shortlisted for the Bath Novel Award and the First Novel Prize.

  First published 2021 by Picador

  This electronic edition published 2021 by Picador

  an imprint of Pan Macmillan

  The Smithson, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR

  EU representative: Macmillan Publishers Ireland Limited,

  Mallard Lodge, Lansdowne Village, Dublin 4

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com

  ISBN 978-1-5290-3052-5

  Copyright © Neema Shah 2021

  Cover Image flower © Alamy

  Author photograph © Alexander James

  Cover Design: Lucy Scholes, Picador Art Department

  The right of Neema Shah to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.

  You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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