Harare Review of Books

296 pp. Published May 6, 2025 by Catalyst Press. Fiction/African literature.

---

I feel like I should preface this with this: This is my first Goretti Kyomuhendo. And what a delight it turned out to be.

Ajuna and Kagaba are a young couple with dreams. Kagaba, though, has not been able to secure a job in Uganda after his degree—so he does what so many young Africans have done, and makes a plan to move to the UK where he’ll get a job and earn lots of pounds, hopefully. He and Ajuna do their best to come up with the money needed for his move, then borrow where they fall short; the (fraudulent) paperwork needed is done through the friend of a friend. After a false start, Kagaba finally makes it to the UK, but—again, the experience of so many young Africans—when he gets there, things are not what he had hoped. In spite of his best attempts, he falls through the cracks of the system.

This is the tale of how the dream of migrant life rarely works out as imagined by young Africans, particularly when they migrate outside of regular channels. It’s also the story of paused lives and broken dreams—because Ajuna and Kagaba’s relationship undergoes severe stress as they live apart. Other characters in this superb novel are on parallel tracks to these two: So many hopes, so much striving, and so much loss. You can’t help but feel for these young people and the ambitions that drive them, the hope for a better life. The punishment they endure for their audacity to dream like this is heartbreaking.

Other wonderful things in this novel: A portrayal of the intricacies of African weddings. Predatory pastors, always ready to pounce on those in need—like irregular migrants hiding from the law. Single motherhood, and that (matchless) African extended family support system—how it may feel like a burden sometimes, but how it holds us all up when it’s most needed. There’s also subtext commentary about how that extended support system is often severely strained, but (usually, hopefully) not broken when it’s called upon in distant lands. And although I felt much kinship in how universally “African” this story was, Promises is also loaded with Ugandan culture and context. I learnt a lot!

So many Africans have a migration story now—theirs, or that of people they know. Kyomuhendo has gathered the threads of a sadly common one into a tragic and moving story of ruined young lives; about the best intentions, and how the road to hell is paved with them. Like the best African oral history, Promises is both a record of time and place and also a cautionary tale. That it is written in soaring yet accessible prose with characters you come to love is just proof of Kyomuhendo’s creativity

Two quotes to summarise the themes of the novel for me:

London had changed him. It had tainted his mind with pessimism. It had robbed him of his innocence and left him dry as a bone.

… but also

It was possible to create a family beyond blood ties.

Many thanks to Catalyst Press and Edelweiss for early DRC access.

Affiliate link: Support independent bookshops and my writing by ordering it from Bookshop here (ebook).