Belonging in Africa

"The year is 1978. Sara Janssen has just turned 18 and knows what she wants: independence from her overbearing father and the smothering attentions of her mother. She is fed up with a lifetime of starting over every time her father's job transfers him to a new country - she left her home in Holland when she was a toddler, and now feels like a stranger even there. Sara longs for a place to belong, and means to stay right where she is, in Kenya. Then Sara falls in love. She does not know much about Sam, only that he is Ugandan and lives in a motel in Kenya, far from his family, to pursue a quality education. Back in Uganda, dictator Idi Amin has inflicted eight years of terror on the country, leaving it in ruins. Sam and Sara could not be more different. Sam likes to call himself a traditional African man, born on the floor of his mother's hut in a remote village. His father is a polygamist who shares a home with six wives and their many children. As the firstborn son of the first wife, Sam has been responsible for the family since his father was imprisoned on bogus charges by the Amin regime. Sara, on the other hand, has led a life of comfort and privilege, nestled in the safety of expat communities around the world. From the start, love cannot completely mask the complications of their relationship. When Sam is accepted to attend university in distant Europe, he asks Sara to join him. He promises they will one day return home to Kenya to build a future together. This is Sara's dream, and after just a heartbeat's hesitation, she says yes. Before leaving for university, Sam travels to his father's house in Uganda to make sure the affairs of his extended family are in order. Without warning, Sara receives the telephone call that changes everything. Sara decides to travel to war-ravaged Uganda and the remote village of Sam's birth. Sara's father, horrified at the risks she is taking, forbids her to go. She ignores his command and starts on a journey to an Africa she had no idea existed"--Amazon.com.