Xanthe and the Ruby Crown

Xanthe loves visiting her grandmother in her tower block home. She loves spending time in Nani’s roof garden and really admires her; Nani was an archaeologist and Xanthe has inherited her love of history from her.

But Xanthe is worried about Nani, who is becoming more and more forgetful. Xanthe’s parents seem to be considering sending Nani to live in a care home. Xanthe thinks it would be awful to tear Nani away from her home and the world she knows. She wonders if reconnecting with Nani’s childhood, which she strangely refuses to talk about, would help strengthen her memory.

Xanthe sets out to find out all she can about Nani’s past spurred on by a mysterious, mystical cat who guides her to finding several objects, of significance to Nani, hidden in the building. On finding them Xanthe is transported back in time where she observes scenes from Nani’s childhood in Kampala, Uganda and begins to understand the events that shaped her grandmother. Xanthe, together with her friends Romeo and Pria, set to work on a special project that Xanthe hopes will help Nani come to terms with her past and keep hold of her precious memories.

There are beautiful descriptive passages of the natural world in the narrative, and sensitive characterisation, in particular of the protagonist Xanthe and her struggles to come to terms with her grandmother’s condition and her best friend Romeo acquiring a new friend. There is a mystical strand too with Xanthe’s visions of her Nani’s childhood guided by Leo, seemingly the ghost of her grandmother’s childhood pet.

This is a story with family love and friendship at its core which explores memory, coming to terms with the past and the early stages of dementia. It also highlights the shocking experience of forced deportation faced by many Asians in Uganda under Idi Amin’s regime.

A heartfelt story with a satisfying ending from an award-winning writer.