Oh my goodness such an emotional stirring book, well deserving of all of the praise that it being heaped on it on Book Twitter and Instagram. The cover itself was enough to grab my attention, that vibrant yellow called out to me, and then the story gripped hold and wouldnt let me go.
Loved it from the start

This one is a moving read. I couldn’t imagine being told that I have to leave everything I hold dear behind and head to a country I may not be welcome. A wonderful debut novel that is beautifully written. I really liked to main characters, especially Asha. Definitely an emotional read that I would recommend.

Thank you to Pan MacMillan for this advance readers copy.

Thankyou you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to have an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Kololo Hill is a beautifully written, powerful book which follows 3 characters, Jaya, Asha and Vijay. These characters are part of a family who are given 90 days to leave Uganda and we follow the journey that they take. A very good debut that is highly impactful as it follows a real life historic event.

Review on Instagram: @thekindlegram - The writing is genuinely phenomenal and it’s a very easy 5* for me. I understood every single character and felt the a clear connection to their motivations - even Pran and his desire to go back to where he considered home.

Jaya’s experience was so moving. The second time she’s been uprooted, she really finds herself again and retains such modesty as she carves out her new life. “It’s just toruk toruk (not much)” she says, after establishing a whole career, and a support network that she loves, all while surrounded by a language she can’t quite quickly grasp and a family that is edging towards breaking apart again.

But what I loved most were the Gujarati phrases, mannerisms and even the Chiku! That true reflection of my own culture is missing for me in a lot of books, sometimes even in the ones that are set in South Asia / written by South Asians. This clear cultural view really helped cement the family‘s relationships and love for one another.

There is so, so much to this book that I don’t think any review can do it complete justice. I urge you all to read it!

Such a powerful book about a time in history that isn’t widely spoken about enough. Amins regime to drive Asians out of Uganda split up families and tore down homes and dreams. Needs Shah tells the story so well and with such respect I’d definitely recommend this book if you want to find out more about that time.

Kololo Hill follows three members of a Ugandan Asian family - Jaya, the matriarch, Vijay, her son, and Asha, her daughter-in-law. Jaya emigrated from India to Uganda, following her husband Motichand's promises of a better, richer life. There she gives birth to two boys - Pran and Vijay. 20ish years later Pran is married to Asha, and both boys are working in their father's dukan. When Idi Amin forces the expulsion of the Ugandan Asians, the family are thrown into turmoil. The story follows their life in Uganda, the 90 days following Idi Amin's announcement, and the family trying to settle in the UK.

When I tell you I loved this book, I loved this book. It is so heartbreakingly beautiful. I could feel the love Shah has poured into the story and characters, and finding out Jaya and Asha are loosely based on her mother and grandmother gives this so much more impact. The story is passionate and full of history, and made me more aware of a time period I knew almost nothing about. You can tell Shah has done her research.

Shah's scene setting is excellent, describing a visual and social landscape that perfectly allows the rest of the story to progress. There are subtle hints to the time period throughout the book - mentions of music and fashion that could only set the scene in the 70s! All of this allows for the characters to drive the story without the reader wondering what is happening around them.

The characters are so beautifully flawed they feel real. I felt each one leap off the page and run around my head! I'm still thinking about them now, and honestly I cannot pick a favourite of the main three (although I adored Motichand).

It is so interesting to see the intersection and examination of race in a book like this. Racism is portrayed from all angles, from the racism the Ugandan Asians display towards the Black Ugandans, to the racism they themselves experience once in the UK. And the examination of this when compared to how the characters feel about home, and where home is for them, is so key to the novel.

Only one tiny little point for me - I would've loved more exploration of Vijay's disability. It was touched upon at relevant points in the story, which made it feel slightly like a box tick, and I would have loved Shah to explore this in more detail.

I cannot sing Shah's praises enough. If you get a chance to read this book, please do.

In early August 1972, the president of Uganda Idi Amin gives the country’s Ugandan Asians 90 days to leave. Kololo Hill follows the story of one family going through this process.

I was really intrigued by this concept, it’s something I have very little knowledge on and I’ve not read something about this before. This book gives a great insight in what it would have been like to be one of immigrants having to leave everything they know behind and start a new life facing numerous hardships.

It is beautifully written and is great at humanising these experiences that people are going through all the time.

My only issue was that in parts the plot was rather slow moving but still an interesting poignant story and a little great debut!

A beautifully written story of a family forced to flee the only home they have ever known, leaving everything behind, a familiar language, culture and community, to build a new life in an unfamiliar society.

Uganda 1972, the current president Idi Amin made an unimaginable announcement that all Asians must leave the country within 90 days. The expulsion threatens to tear one family apart. With not all members of the two-generational family having British passports, their future faces great uncertainty. To escape the growing violence from the government's soldiers they must abandon their home, business, whilst leaving possessions behind, and as instructed by the countries dictator, take no more than £50. Faced with losing everything when having to bribe the soldiers to prevent them from being harmed at the many checkpoints on route to the airport, the family had to be inventive, hiding gold jewellery inside bhajia, a spicy snack for the plane journey.

Despite the family entering Britain legally with passports, as impoverished refugees, they feel unwelcome. Sadly, this hostile environment seems to be a reoccurring theme, reading similar experiences around the Windrush generation. A topic that resonated was the family member who had a physical disability. Working with young people with disabilities, I found it heartbreaking that potential employers could not see beyond the disability of the character. Nearly fifty years on, and disabled people continue to face severe barriers to participation and equality across society.

I appreciated the intricate details, from the scents of many flowers to the taste of the cuisines that were ever-present. I also liked the organisation of the chapters from the perspective of three family members. The structure helped tell each protagonists individual story. I loved that two protagonists were admirable female characters, affirming that women within this culture are strong, smart and resilient.

The story was fascinating, though a devastating insight into East African Asian history. It led me to read more around the settlement of labourers recruited from British India who came to East Africa to build a railway when Uganda was a protectorate of the British Empire.

Neema Shah’s remarkable and moving debut Kololo Hill is released TODAY, Thursday, 18th February! Although I have a copy of the book on kindle, I am excited to see it in hardback format. The cover is so striking and vibrant!

Thank you Neema Shah, NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for my ARC in return for my honest review.

Kololo Hill is set amongst the rising tensions in early 70's Uganda and Idi Amin's announcement that Asian Ugandans must leave the country with little more than the clothes on their backs. It is the story of a Hindu family told from the different view points of the various family members. For the older generation Jaya and Motichand, Uganda is a place they moved to in search of better opportunities. For their children Vijay and Pran, and Pran's wife Asha, Uganda is all they have ever known. In the first half of the book, life at home becomes increasingly dangerous and unwelcoming, and the exodus of the Asian community begins. In the second half of the book the family tries to rebuild, to reflect on the sacrifices they've made for their safety and to find a sense of belonging again. I particularly liked the female characters in the book - Jaya and Asha struck me as strong resilient women, both able to face difficult circumstances and continue onwards.

Historical fiction such as this can teach us more about the past but also shed light on issues we face in the present: identity and belonging, scapegoating of minority communities and what it means to be a refugee being particularly relevant at the moment.

Kololo Hill has been on my must-read list for a while so I was thrilled to get an advance copy via Netgalley. My husband's family moved from India to East Africa and then to the UK and there are so many parallels in this story to their experience. This story is part of our family's history and of the conversations we have with our children as they grow and learn more about their own identities. A fabulous debut from Neema Shah.

Set in Uganda in 1972, in this heart-breaking piece of historical fiction, Shah tells the story of a Ugandan Indian family and their traumatic expulsion from the place they called home.
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Written in third person, but from multiple perspectives within one family, Shah portrays a very real family, with flawed characters. She endears you to this family, and you share in their fear and trepidation of their journey from the dangerous, but familiarity of Uganda to the cold and unfamiliar England. The coldness magnifying the sense of isolation.
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Inspired by the lives, of her grandparents, Shah’s writing is almost understated, but in its simplicity and sometimes unspoken words, evokes such overwhelming feelings of fear, sadness, loss and uncertainty.
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There are some strong themes tackled in this novel, and I will highlight trigger warnings for violence including rape, and both prejudice (sexual, racial and against disability).
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The image Shah describes of children pushing pebbles through holes in a wall, with the realisation that they were bullet holes is one that will haunt me.
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This is not an easy read, but it can’t be. It tells a story of families torn apart, and coping with horrific trauma. But it is an outstanding debut and a book that I highly recommend!
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Thank you to both Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an eARC of this heart-breaking novel.

“When you’re left with nothing but your secrets, how do you start again?” asks writer Neema Shah on the cover of her first book, Kololo Hill. This moving story – inspired by her family background and events in Uganda in the 70s – follows newly-weds Asha and Pran, uprooted from the family home in Kampala and embarking on a turbulent journey which leads them to suburban England as just two of the 30,000 refugees who resettled in the UK. Abandoning the business he’s worked so hard to build does not come naturally to Pran, and the young couple must adjust to rapidly changing, increasingly terrifying circumstances. This fascinating and eye-opening tale gives a glimpse into both domestic life and the impossible, life-altering decisions faced by the tens of thousands of people forced to flee Uganda under Idi Amin’s dictatorship. Though fiction, Shah’s story is extensively researched and rings extremely true: a beautifully written and deeply affecting debut.

As featured in Book Club in February Cambridge Edition Magazine

This book is outstanding.
I read an ARC copy of Kololo Hill on Netgalley and was unsure of what to expect as it is Shah's debut novel, but oh my goodness, I was glued to it. I could not put it down. Kololo Hill is a story of fear, loss, identity, family, loyalty, pride, resilience and hope.

The story follows one family's experience of expulsion from Uganda at Idi Amin's order and is crafted in such a way that the reader gets insight into how different generations and genders feel and are affected by this. Each main character is strong and unique and in turn they are developed with the uttermost detail and care. I found that Shah dealt with identity is the most beautiful manner, identity based on family situation, class, marital status, disability, race, gender, employment, geographical location; the characters' own experience of life pre and post expulsion give such wonderful insight and perspective.

The plot development is steady - it deals with the trauma of the family's situation in a delicate yet very real way. It isn't a book that is constantly building up to one big, shocking event because the family are living in a hugely shocking context. The trauma, stress and fight are real, but so are the resilience and hope. It doesn't seek to shock or glamorise the violence/situation, yet the suspense and tension are very much felt by the reader.

If it's not obvious by now, I absolutely loved this book. It's a book that left me thinking about the damage that people can do to one another, and the power that there is is kindness, perseverance and hope.

I cannot recommend reading Kololo Hill enough.

In 1972, Ugandan Asians were preparing to flee their homes, expelled by the country's despotic president, Idi Amin. Kololo Hill looks at one family's attempts to survive and thrive in exile in the United Kingdom, a country they initially regard as friendly but which often proves to be anything but.

As a white Scottish child growing up at the time, I have vague, disjointed memories of Idi Amin. Sometimes he was a looming, military-uniformed presence on television news reports, sometimes he was the butt of racist jokes by comedians and impressionists. As I got older, I understood more about the tangled post-colonial world in which someone like Amin was able to succeed and go on to murder thousands of people across Uganda, but it wasn't until I read Neema Shah's debut novel that I got a glimpse of what happened to some of the people who survived his regime.

The family at the heart of the novel are a typical Ugandan Asian family, living in relative comfort on Kololo Hill. Motichand and Jaya, Pran and Asha and Pran's brother Vijay each face their own set of challenges when life becomes difficult and then impossible for them. They are both devices through which we view the history of colonialism in Uganda as well as multi-layered characters in their own right, whose behaviour and attitudes shift in reaction to their experiences as refugees.

If this makes this fabulous novel sound terribly worthy, it's not. Neema Shah's knowledge and research is done with a light touch and her rendering of the world of both Kololo Hill and London in the early 70s is full of food, colour, smells and weather as well as political machinations. This was something I really enjoyed about the novel; the contrast between the vibrant, urgent world of Kampala and the dreary, 3-day-week setting of London.

Kololo Hill brought to a mind a poem by Liz Lochhead called Something I'm Not. Itself, coincidentally, published in 1972. In Lochhead's poem, a Scottish tenement dweller muses about her immigrant neighbours but is too reticent to take the relationship any further, she relies on assumptions and they remain strangers. What Kololo Hill does is centre the immigrant experience by opening the doors of these unfamiliar people and asking the reader to step inside.

Thank you Picador and NetGalley for this ARC.

It is 1972. Asha and Pran are newly married and living with his parents in Kampala, Uganda. Pran helps run the family business with his brother, Vijay, and father, Motichand. When the dictator Idi Amin orders all Ugandan Asians to leave the country, the family is forced to flee abroad.

The sense of menace is clear from the very start and the tension gradually builds as the deadline for leaving draws nearer. The family is split up as not all of them have British passports.

The sense of dislocation is a constant theme throughout, along with secrecy. Asha keeps a distressing scene she witnesses to herself, probably because it is safer to remain silent. Pran keeps secrets from his wife but Asha finds out, although one secret only comes to light later on.

As is so often the case, it is what isn't spoken that resonates the loudest, the smallest gesture or look conveying far more than words. Asha realises that Pran will never change, whilst she has moved on. The end of the novel reflects this.

I found Neema Shah's prose compelling as it moved between the minutiae of family life, the underlying menace, and the palpable fear as families left. The attention to detail in every facet of the family's story, not just the life they leave behind but how they are treated on arrival in Britain and the subsequent struggle to adjust. Some manage this better than others.

The novel evokes a real sense of place and how one family survives in spite of all that is thrown at them. There is sadness and regret, but the story is also about hope and moving forward. Pran struggles because he cannot let go of the past whilst his mother, wife, and brother learn to embrace their new way of life.

This is a beautifully written book and I look forward to reading more by Neema Shah.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Pan Macmillan, in return for an honest appraisal.

Kololo Hill revolves around an Asian Ugandan family under Idi Amin's regime and his expulsion of Asians in the '70s. The book is very much about family, the notion of 'home' and where you belong - something that resonates with me as the child of immigrants, and listening to the stories of my elders. When your country doesn't want you, where is your home?
Exquisitely written from the perspectives of 3 characters, we feel how displaced they are and how much people had to overcome; it holds relevance today when considering the plight of Syrian refugees.
A wonderful, heart felt, intimately detailed novel highlighting a lesser taught period in history.

A brilliant book about longing, loss, violence, hatred and building a new world, a new life, a new reality for yourself. It will stay with me for a long time. Neema Shah is a name to look out for - what will she do next?

Neema Shah’s Kololo Hill focuses on an episode in British colonial history that may not be familiar to many readers; the expulsion of Asians from Uganda in 1972 by Idi Amin. Most Asians had to leave the country within ninety days, fleeing to the range of countries in which they had citizenship – with a majority ending up in Britain – although some were left stateless. As the novel makes clear, although Uganda had gained independence from Britain in 1962, this event was a direct result of its long history of colonisation. South Asians, mostly Gujaratis, had been originally brought to Uganda by the British, first to work on the construction of the Uganda Railway in the late nineteenth century (nearly a third of these Indian workers were killed or maimed during the project), and later to participate in commerce and administration under the Uganda Protectorate. However, the expulsion of Ugandan Asians was also intertwined with Britain’s future stance towards its former colonial subjects; the 1971 Immigration Act increased immigration controls and was primarily motivated by the influx of refugees from Uganda and from Kenya, which also expelled Asians in the late 1960s.

Kololo Hill tells this story through a single family. Asha has recently married Pran, who runs a general store, or dukan, with his brother Vijay, and also lives with mother Jaya and father Motichand. While the family are not wealthy, they become increasingly aware of how they are perceived as privileged ‘dukawallahs’ by African Ugandans, and try to protect their ‘house-boy’ December, who is one of the persecuted Acholi people. Each step of the plot is pretty predictable, but Kololo Hill still flows easily and engagingly as we see how this family deal with their world suddenly being turned upside down. I wanted our three narrators – Asha, Vijay and Jaya – to stray a little further from archetype, but I appreciated the inter-generational perspective, and the consideration of how Vijay manages with a physical disability (he was born missing most of his left arm), especially when he comes into contact with the British welfare state. Shah depicts the ways in which her protagonists are both oppressed and fortunate skilfully, as they recognise the advantages they’ve had over African Ugandans due to British patronage and their relatively kinder welcome into Britain itself, and yet are obviously uprooted, robbed, and attacked in Uganda, and continue to face racism every day in Britain. While Kololo Hill might be competent rather than brilliant, it vividly conveys this significant moment in history. 3.5 stars.

Kololo Hill. I finished it in two days. Why? Because Neema Shah is one of few who has given a voice to those whose stories haven’t been heard.

Not many books explore what it was like for Ugandan Indians under Idi Amin’s rule so it was interesting but also heartbreaking to find out more about this not-very-well-known period in history. Growing up, I had heard his name thrown around and I knew he was a bad person but I didn’t understand why. I also remember the day he died because when my parents discussed it, there was a feeling of relief which, even though I didn’t understand at the time, I never forgot.

The book is split into two parts. Part 1 follows the main family during their time in Uganda and Part 2 follows them after their arrival in London. While I enjoyed the book overall, Part 2 was probably my favourite. The plot slowed down a bit here but that paved the way for the characters to really develop. I’m shouting out Asha, who was hands down my favourite. She was a strong woman who stood up for herself. She defied the stereotypical Gujarati girl of that time period and I am here for that.

Because our family was taken out of a familiar environment (Uganda) and placed somewhere new, the way they coped with these changes and what these changes brought out in them became a huge driving force in the way that the story moved forward and I loved seeing how each of them reacted and adjusted. I could see so many faces of people I know through them all - the aunties who never really got to grips with English and the aunties that did, the elders who embraced living in the UK and the ones who just couldn’t quite manage it. It really made me appreciate and value what it means to migrate to a place you may not necessarily have ever envisioned yourself living in.

Neema’s exploration of identity, culture, migration and love is done in a digestible and well thought out way and I loved seeing my favourite foods, family & cultural traditions and language interspersed throughout the novel because #RepresentationMatters. Reading about African Indians felt comforting for me because of my own family’s migration from India to Kenya to England and it makes me wish I knew my own family’s history better.

Before I leave you, I’m going to ask you to read this book. African Indian history isn’t well known but it deserves to be.

🌿BOOK REVIEW🌿

Kololo Hill by Neema Shah

TW// racism, sexual assault

In 1972 Idi Amin issued a decree stating that all Asians must leave the country within 90 days. They must leave with all they can carry and leave their homes, or risk being sent to prison camps. We follow this part of history through the eyes of one Ugandan family: Vijay, Pran and their parents along with, Pran’s wife, Asha.

With violence and crime increasing in Kampala the family come to the decision to leave the country. However, the whole family does not have passports for the same country and so Pran must leave for India while the rest of the family head to the UK.

Reading about this expulsion truly broke my heart. Humans treating each other like this just because of where they were born was difficult to read. Amin’s soldiers are in a position of power where they are allowed to rob, beat and rape the Asian Ugandans.

What really impacted me was the second half of this book when the family reach the UK. They were forced out of their home and to an unwelcoming country who continue to perpetuate hate towards them. They struggle to find jobs, navigate supermarkets and find community in this strange world. This book really showed how important it is to be empathetic to other people’s situations.

Along with covering such an important historical event, Shah also explored the dynamics within a marriage, female empowerment and stigma surrounding disability.

THIS BOOK!!! When I say this impacted me in every way possible... I cannot recommend this book enough, especially if you want to increase you’re understanding of this part of history. This is a book I 100% believe should be part of the school curriculum.

🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼/5

A very touching and genuine story about displacement and belonging, as we see Asha before and after her forced departure from Uganda as 80,000 Ugandan Asians were thrown out of the country by Idi Amin.

Asha is newly married and living with her husband's family when tragedy hits and she is forced to move to the UK without her husband, but with her mother- and brother- in law. She finds strength in their company and is able to rebuild a life for herself, only for that to be thrown into question when she is finally reunited with her husband.

This novel is very immediate and brings you right into the actions and events that were so dramatic at the time and that are seen through an immediate rather than an historical lens.

A moving story of identity, belonging and individual choice.