This is a book worth everyone’s time and attention!
Vera! Vera! Vera! How many times have I said your name? If you are a typical Ugandan, you can understand the tone behind that sentence!
Vera is a career woman. She is independent, passionate and loyal. She is a go-getter. Vera, like many young, Ugandan woman has had her fair share of loving the wrong people. She seeks to love, and to be loved right. When she meets the man who loves her, she embraces him, but also, fights for him. Vera left me asking myself questions: how far would the pursuit of everlasting love take me? Would I be willing to lay down my pride, forgive over and over, or even, make some compromises?
Right from the first page, I quickly grew fond of this character, Vera. If I didn’t know it already, I was reminded with each page I turned that Goretti is an amazing writer! She carefully crafts this character, ‘Vera’, and brings her to life so beautifully. Vera experiences real “chic” problems, which she is open and honest about. Vera fears no one. She will fight for what is hers because that is what a real boss lady does!
Vera is bold! She shares; and sometimes, even rants:
“ Mrs T did not like me. Surely, I did my best to impress her? But I could tell she was just biased against me. It could be because of my ethnicity, or my body size, or my skin colour tone, or the schools I attended, (not as posh as her son’s.) Simanyi.”
Vera is not afraid of spilling all the tea, yes, even those things you would only say in your head! Yet, this is what I love the most about Vera! She is unpredictable, you cannot tell what is coming next. This kept me eager to keep on flipping the pages of the book!
You have to read this book, correction, you must read this book! Get ready for a hearty laugh! I did, moreover, aboard a public taxi! This is a book you will read in one day! At the end of the story, I felt like I was just getting started. Vera, please whisper once again, I am certain that you still had so much more to say!
Lorna Mwebaza is a Ugandan content writer, blogger, and Podcaster.
To purchase a copy, please check out any of these outlets:
- Uganda Bookshop: https://ugandabookshop.co.ug/
- African Writers Trust online Bookshop: call Mark to order your copy on +256753033086 / +256775685909
- Nice Book Centre Naalya
- African Books Collective: Whispers from Vera
- Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Whispers-Vera-Goretti-Kyomuhendo/dp/997028004X
- Cheche Books and Café , Lavington, Nairobi, Kenya
- Soma Nami Books: https://www.somanami.co.ke/
Goretti Kyomuhendo is one of Uganda’s leading novelists. She is the author of four novels: The First Daughter (1996), Secrets No More (1999), which won the Uganda National Literary Award for Best Novel in the same year; Waiting, published by The Feminist Press in New York, in 2007, and translated into Spanish, in 2022 and Whispers from Vera, republished in August 2023.
