Genre: Fiction
Pages: 271
Author: Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, Mombasa
Setting: Mombasa coast
Themes: Family, Adventure, Fantasy
‘Mombasa, will you forgive me my trespasses? So many try to escape you. If in trying to honour you I have instead dishonoured you, forgive me. You are a city of wedding singers, wily merchants, mkokoteni pushers, grand matriarchs, dandy old men, cunning fishermen and quarrelsome crows- but above all you are a city of story tellers. You are so much more than my words alone could ever hope to embody.’
– Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, House of Rust; page 267
****
This book is beyond any doubt, a love letter to Mombasa.
Set mostly in the coast on narrations of adventures on the ocean, The House of Rust is such an enchanting tale.
Aisha, the protagonist in the book, is a young girl born and raised in Mombasa by her grandmother and fisher-man father. She sets out on a quest to find her father who suddenly vanishes into the ocean. Accompanied by Hamza, a talking cat who only reveals his abilities in a bid to help her find her father, and a ship made of skeleton, she sets out for the ocean with one rusty knife.
I appreciate the detail with which Khadija narrates the sea voyage and self-discovery that Aisha is faced with, along the way. Quite Ingenious.
The tale centers around a father-daughter relationship that is rekindled by the love for the sea; cultural expectations of marriage and duty for a girl and pursuing passion and adventure. The book ends with Aisha setting off to the ocean in pursuit of the House of Rust, a happy ending for the young girl despite all the clashes she had to face to get there.
I’ve always seen Mombasa from the vantage point of a tourist but not from the viewpoint of a local, born and raised in the town. It was beautiful to read and explore the myths surrounding the ocean through Khadija’s words. If you’re a lover of water and the ocean, you’ll absolutely enjoy this story!
Let me know what you thought of the book in case you’ve read it.
Cheers.