![]() ![]() In Makumbi’s titular story, Nnambassa is sent to London at the tender age of 16. It’s 1950 and Makumbi vividly recreates life for an African male immigrant at that time – the bomb sites, double work shifts, dancing at the Merchant Navy Club, poor accommodation and routine racism: “to be called ‘bongo bongo’ was okay but to hear Do those chaps still eat each other or Even fellow blacks can’t stand them was crushing.” In “Our Allies the Colonies”, 21-year-old Abbey Baker (optimistically named after Westminster Abbey and Samuel Baker) arrives in Manchester aboard a Dutch merchant ship. The first half is mainly set in Manchester, the latter half in Uganda, and the stories span the 1950s to the present day. Manchester Happened is divided into two parts: “Departing” and “Returning”. However, these written anomalies reflect a rich oral storytelling tradition and powerfully evoke Ugandan culture and language. She includes double negatives, is prone to ramble and her prose is littered with “and then”. Makumbi lectures in creative writing but evidently delights in breaking as many rules as possible. ![]() Uganda is once again her focus in this boisterous short story collection. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s debut novel, Kintu, a powerful family saga set in Uganda, has been likened to Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Manchester Happened (Oneworld) by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi ![]()
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