The Memory of Love

Freetown, Sierra Leone, 1969. On a hot January evening that he will remember for decades, Elias Cole first catches sight of Saffia Kamara, the wife of a charismatic colleague. He is transfixed. Thirty years later, lying in the capital’s hospital, he recalls the desire that drove him to acts of betrayal he has tried to justify ever since. Elsewhere in the hospital, Kai, a gifted young surgeon, is desperately trying to forget the pain of a lost love that torments him as much as the mental scars he still bears from the civil war that has left an entire people with terrible secrets to keep. It falls to a British psychologist, Adrian Lockheart, to help the two survivors, but when he too falls in love, past and present collide with devastating consequences. The Memory of Love is a heartbreaking story of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

Reviews of The Memory of Love

'A writer of great talent and courage' Monica Ali 'An intricate tapestry of betrayal, tragedy and loss … an affecting, passionate and intelligent novel about the redemptive power of love and storytelling' Daily Telegraph 'Let us hope that it takes its place where it deserves to be; not at the top of the pile of "African Literature" but outside any category altogether – and at the top of award shortlists' The Times 'Intelligent, engrossing and beautifully crafted' Daily Mail