HALF CANNONBALL! CBR15 BINGO (Africa square: The main character is African. Author is of African descent: father from Sierra Leone. Various political/military situations in the book take place in Africa.)
Yet another book that jumped out to me initially because of its eco-fiction bent: studying urban dwelling fox in London. However, it turned out to be about so much more than that.
Attila is an itinerant psychologist from Ghana that specializes in PTSD. Regularly traveling to give keynote speeches and expert testimony, his early career was spent focused in war-torn areas (Bosnia, Sierra Leone).
Jean is a wildlife biologist studying the urbanization of foxes in London. While the public and local politicians villainize the fox, she fights the uphill battle to educate those who would rather blame. Devoted to her job and a curiosity about life that her ex-husband did not share, she is trying to build a relationship with her now adult son that was strained during the break up of her marriage.
Both are fairly private people even though others are easily drawn to them. They both throw themselves into their work and retreat to recharge: Jean to her rooftop garden and Atilla to performing arts.
After they collide with one another on a bridge in London, they continue to cross paths in the city. When Atilla’s niece and her young son are taken from their apartment by immigration authorities, and the boy runs away from foster care placement, Atilla and Jean bring together their London friends to search for him. Traffic wardens, bellmen, street cleaners, and street performers all converge to find the missing boy.
It’s a book about adaptability. People who have absorbed the messier parts of their lives and accepted them as part of the whole. Like the wildlife in the story, the human characters have adapted to London: Jean by creating a green oasis on her rooftop (and the rooftops of others), the immigrants who have made lives for themselves in a new country, and Attilia who has found refuge in the city and its people, food and theater.
There is a lot more going on here but the nuances are better left to the reader. Ultimately, it is a beautiful and honest book about people seeking to make the best life that they can for themselves and those around them.