TITLE: Whispers from Vera
AUTHOR: Goretti Kyomuhendo
PUBLISHER: Africa Writers Trust
REVIEWER: Scholastica Moraa
AVAILABILITY: Nuria and Cheche Bookstores
Whispers from Vera is a well-crafted, breezy story, brilliantly told by Goretti Kyomuhendo. Told in your best friend, casual tone voice, the story tells the life of Vera, a 29-year-old woman trying to find love in Kampala. The corporate type, Vera is intent on finding love and settling down. Meeting Eric seems like an answered prayer and she is ready to settle down and have a family.
However, all is not as it seems and Eric is hiding a secret that may end up being their undoing. With her bubble of a perfect marriage burst, Vera struggles with coping with this new information, raising a family and trying to climb up the corporate ladder.
The book explores the various challenges women go through in finding love, raising their families, and growing their careers. The book also explores family dynamics that are a huge part of our lives. Set in Uganda and with the enrichment of the local language, the book has this distinctive local feel. However, Goretti has also managed to give the book a modern and timeless feel that makes the book a classic. Set in the 2000s the book is significant now as it was then. Coupled with the high rise in the number of career women, you can say that the book is needed much more now.
The book has also managed to cover the perspectives of different characters although Vera is the main character. Through Vera’s perspective, we also get a view of how other families live and cope with their dysfunctions. I would say that Whispers from Vera is that book that every woman needs to read.
But I would be very wrong and biased. It is a book that everyone needs to read. Both men and women.
The book’s greatest strength lies in the ease through which the author tells the story. The chapters are short and the flow from one chapter to the next is smooth and exciting. For avid readers, this will be a fast read. For people with reading stumps or those struggling to read, the book is perfect for them too.
Additionally, the book can be found at the ekitabu audio app. Having read and also listened to it I can say that the reader did an excellent job in capturing the author’s voice. You can order the audio version of Whispers from Vera, here.
From the local dialect in pronunciation of the local words to the flow of the story. You feel as if Vera herself is telling you her story. The audio is perfect for those long solo trips and in less than four hours you can actually finish the whole book.
Happy reading. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
Moraa is a young woman navigating life. Author of Beautiful Mess… Co Author of Dreams and Demons and I’m Listening 2021 edition. She is also the winner of Kendeka Prize of African Literature-2022. She can be found with a book or two. When she’s not fighting to stay afloat, she is daydreaming, writing poetry or reading.