| Doreen Baingana |
Doreen Baingana grew up in Entebbe, Uganda, and received a law degree from Makerere University, Kampala, and an MFA from the University of Maryland, USA. She has won the Commonwealth Prize for First Book, Africa Region, the Associated Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Award in Short Fiction, the Washington Independent Writers Fiction Prize, and has twice been a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing. She is now based in Kenya.Tropical Fish follows the three Mugisha sisters, as they grow up against the backdrop of Uganda in the 1980s. Patti is a born-again Christian, Rosa is adventurous and sexually precocious. The star of the show however is Christine. We travel with her as she takes her first wobbly steps in high heels and later encounters the alienation amidst material wealth of America, before her final return home. Through eight interlocking stories, Tropical Fish explores themes as diverse as the family, sex and relationships, disease, betrayal, and spirituality. Doreen Baingana paints an engrossing and unforgettable picture of young women coming of age in Africa. 'The stories in Tropical Fish plumb the depths of nostalgia and regret, bubbling over as they do with recollections and memories left threadbare by time.' Toni Kan, author of Nights of the Creaking Bed.
|