Shame (2015) is set in Arnau, Switzerland, and Magulu, Tanzania, in
contemporary times (2000s). Pilgrim Jones, an American woman, feels betrayed.
Her husband, Tom Lankester, divorced her to marry Elise. Despite not wanting
children when he was married to Pilgrim, Tom and Elise have a child.
Then Pilgrim has an ‘incident’ – a tragic incident – or accident – that brings
guilt, hatred from others, and shame. The only thing to do is to escape the
place where it happened. She travels to Tanzania.
From the capital of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, she meets Mama Gloria, and travels
by bus to a remote village. But Pilgrim decides to stay. It is Magulu, only 20
miles from the Kenyan border. Here she stays at the Goodnight Bar and Inn,
owned by Gladness. Pilgrim befriends Dorothea, the town’s doctor, who loves the
town’s policeman, PC Kessy.
But the past catches up with Pilgrim. Detective Chief Inspector Paul
Strebel from Arnau is looking for her. When he arrives in Dar es Salaam, he
tells people that Pilgrim is in danger. Is she? In danger from whom? The other
man looking for her? Or does Tanzania heal all wounds?
Written in the first person, by Pilgrim Jones, for the majority of the
novel, it shifts towards the end. Back and forth in time and place is
disorientating, but that is the intent of the author. What happens is
disturbing. This is not just an account of what happens to Pilgrim, but what
happens to others – others that also experience loss and despair, and revenge.
MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:-
The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends
(2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan
Curse (2009).
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