During the 1900s in East Africa, Sakina has a happy childhood amongst stories her family tell her of their troubled lives in India, the difficulty of travelling by sea from Bombay to Mombasa and the jamat’s help when they first arrived. It is a detailed historical experience of Asians coming to East African told though the eyes of young Sakina. But when she marries, leaving her loved ones far behind, the only comfort she has from her nagging mother-in-law and constant housework, is Maasai beadwork.

This is the second time I’ve read this book. I could smell the dust and feel the vastness of the landscape through the experiences of Sakina travelling in Kenya early last century. In particular, I loved the beautiful meaning behind the beadwork explained by the old Maasai to Sakina.