Summary

The novel opens with a section titled "AFTER" that takes place in New York City in 2009. The reader meets Abeo in New York on her way to work at the hair salon. She sees a man named Duma who she knows from Ukemby and pees her pants. Then she moves to kill him with a screwdriver raised above her head. The action in this section is not resolved until the end of the novel in a companion section also called "AFTER."

Chapter 1 jumps backward in time to Abeo’s first memory, which is from a happy day in 1978 in Ukemby when she is two years old. This chapter introduces the reader to Abeo’s parents Ismae Kata and Wasik Kata and their privileged life in Port Masi in the Palm Tree Residential Area. The chapter also explains how Abeo’s parents got...