In 1988, a retired schoolteacher named Pius Fernandes receives an old diary found in the back room of an East African shop. Written in 1913 by a British colonial administrator, the diary captivates Fernandes, who begins to research the coded history he encounters in its terse, laconic entries. What he uncovers is a story of forbidden liaisons and simmering vengeances, family secrets and cultural exiles--a story that leads him on an investigative journey through his own past and Africa's.

M.G. Vassanji was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania. He attended university in the United States, where he trained as a nuclear physicist, before coming to Canada in 1978. Vassanji is the author of six novels and two collections of short stories. His work has appeared in various countries and several languages, and he has twice won the Giller Prize. His most recent novel, The Assassin’s Song, was shortlisted for both the Giller Prize and the Governor-General’s Award. He is a member of the Order of Canada and lives in Toronto.

M.G. Vassanji's profile page

• Winner, Giller Prize - Winner

“Rich . . . wonderful . . . entertaining . . . a celebration of storytelling.” —David Willis McCullough, The New York Times Book Review
“A love affair with the past . . . [an] exquisite, tender, and possibly great novel.” —The New Yorker
“Well-written, mulit-layered, and teasingly inconclusive . . . Offers a view of an area seldom treated in fiction.” —The Atlantic Monthly