In 1952, 18-year-old Rachel returned to her childhood home in Kenya after six years in exile in England. She longs to recover memories of her loving, adventurous mother, who had died just prior to her exile. She also wants to reestablish a bond with her father, whose abandonment has seared her heart. However, she discovers that her father remains distant and that he’s living with a subtly dangerous and manipulative woman.
As tensions proliferate on both the domestic and political fronts—the Mau Mau resistance movement is fighting to achieve independence from the British colonial powers—Rachel realizes, “I have come home to find the farm ransacked by a future I don’t yet understand.”
Drawn into a secret relationship, Rachel discovers love and protection of sorts. But this leads to a new threat and a life-altering choice. When Rachel is consistently intimidated by an evil, influential man, she is nearly destroyed. Hope arrives in unexpected, suspenseful ways. As a result, she is able to chart out a life for herself—one that she might not have initially chosen but that holds the possibility of love, redemption, and new beginnings.
Jennifer McVeigh’s historical novel profoundly and poignantly exposes the injustice, pain, and oppression inflicted on Kenya’s people by British colonial powers. It also reveals the means to which desperate people will go as they fight for the freedom that is rightfully theirs. (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
About the Author
Sonya VanderVeen Feddema is a freelance writer and a member of Covenant CRC in St. Catharines, Ontario.
