CULTURE CLUB
BY NEEMA SHAH KOLOLO HILL
“When you’re left with nothing but your secrets, how do you start again?” asks writer Neema Shah on the cover of her first book, Kololo Hill . This moving story – inspired by her family background and events in Uganda in the 70s – follows newly-weds Asha and Pran, uprooted from the family home in Kampala and embarking on a turbulent journey which leads them to suburban England as just two of the 30,000 refugees who resettled in the UK. Abandoning the business he’s worked so hard to build does not come naturally to Pran, and the young couple must adjust to rapidly changing, increasingly terrifying circumstances. This fascinating and eye-opening tale gives a glimpse into both domestic life and the impossible, life-altering decisions faced by the tens of thousands of people forced to flee Uganda under Idi Amin’s dictatorship. Though fiction, Shah’s story is extensively researched and rings extremely true: a beautifully written and deeply affecting debut. “This is like nothing else I’ve ever read”
A modernist, free-form, stream-of-consciousness ride through a day in the life of a nameless young woman who lives and works in central London, this book is like nothing else I’ve ever read. Once you get into the flow of the irregularly structured prose, you quickly start to marvel at this entirely accurate (and at times, very funny) depiction of just how many distracting thoughts pop into someone’s head as they navigate each day. The choice of layout forces you to slow down – to truly appreciate each feeling that the protagonist experiences. Disjointed text and lines leaping across pages insist upon you paying proper attention to the narrator – but it’s not long before her frustration at her perceived lack of success and fury at being on the receiving end of the wrong sort of attention – ‘itemised’, as she puts it, by male coworkers – bubbles to the surface. The ‘little scratch’ of the title doesn’t sound like much, but it’s her self-punishing way of managing the frustration and pain over time. It has scarred her; she is trapped by her trauma, haunted by what’s happened to her and unable to shake the thoughts that echo, Groundhog Day style, through her brain at unprovoked moments. An astonishing and truly unforgettable first novel from journalist Rebecca Watson, this book is absolutely not to be missed, especially for the uncannily accurate depiction of pre-pandemic, humdrum, clock-watching life in a modern office. BY REBECCA WATSON LITTLE SCRATCH
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C A M B S E D I T I O N . C O . U K
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