Land for Fatimah

by Veena Gokhale

Four strong women: Anjali, an Indo-Canadian single mother who eagerly accepts an African posting with her non-profit organization; Grace, her dedicated but dominating colleague, who opposes her; Fatimah, a farmer ousted from her home and fertile farmland, whom Anjali befriends; and Mary, Anjali’s kindly maid, who must secure the future of her son, Gabriel. In Land for Fatimah, Anjali involves herself in Fatimah’s quest to find new land for her scattered community, and is thrown into a web of intrigue that upturns her safe, orderly world. Capturing the warmth and vitality of Africa, illuminating everyday heroism, the novel explores expat life, the forced displacement of the poor and the complexities of development.

Genres: Fiction, Africa

304 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2018

About the author

Veena Gokhale, an immigrant shape shifter, started her career as a journalist in Bombay. This "tough, tantalizing" city inspired Bombay Wali and other stories (Guernica Editions, 2013).

Veena first came to Canada on a journalism fellowship, returning to do a Masters. After immigrating, she worked for non-profits. Her novel, Land for Fatimah (Guernica, 2018), is partly inspired by the two years she spent working in Tanzania.

Her third work of fiction, Annapurna's Bounty, Indian Food Legends Retold, is forthcoming from Dundurn Press in June 2025. Described as "ingeniously designed as a banquet for the body and the mind." each food legend, recast for contemporary times, is followed by a recipe that a character offers to the reader.

Veena teaches English as Second Language and curates an annual, South Asian literary event entitled A Garden of Literary Delights for the Kabir Cultural Central.

Having lived in 10 cities across three countries and continents she now calls Tiohtià:ke-Montreal. home.

Reviews

[Veena Gokhale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am the author and I have added two brief reviews from the back of this book, as well as a review from a reviewer who is not on Goodreads. Nilambri Ghai's review appeared in Montreal Serai magazine (link below):
Veena Gokhale’s novel is a bridge spanning cultures and languages across South Asia, Africa and Canada...
Whereas on the one hand, Land for Fatimah is about the poor and the dispossessed, it is also about the plight of foreign or local NGOs..
Set against the backdrop of busy city streets with swarming Matatas (privately-owned mini-vans) and the all-consuming dust of African countryside, this novel makes a great read.
http://montrealserai.com/article/land...

Back of the book:
Erudite and engaging. The characters are drawn with empathy and compassion. The tension between the exigencies of justice and the demands of bureaucracy is aptly depicted. The protagonist, Anjali, is a complex, multidimensional character, admirable for her attempts to put principle ahead of pragmatism.
-H. Nigel Thomas,
shortlisted for the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, 2013 & 2015

The story hit many of those bitter sweet moments you have when trying to make a difference against all odds. I know anybody who has worked in a developing country or with an NGO will love the book.
-Andra Tamburro, Former Director at Water Advocates

[Gaele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opening with a story of demolition of a slum in India: wiping out historic and familial ties, and being part of the childhood history of Anjali, one of the voices in this story. Now in Africa, she is working with the Aanke people, who have received notice to vacate their traditional lands (and industry) to make way for a cocoa plantation. Here I where Fatimah’s story comes forward as she is determined to fight both the eviction and the lack of planning for her people’s resettlement. Here is where the story actually becomes one of multiple dimensions: the poorer being moved in the name of progress: their limited options and resources to fight, or perhaps even survive the battle that foreshadows the loss of traditions and history.

The beauty of the landscape is presented through Anjali’s eyes, giving those unfamiliar with the country a sense of place and allowing the imagination to fill in moments with visual references, exploring the diversity from one place to another: not just in traditions and tribes, but in the landscape that helped to form and provide for them. But, this is ultimately about the challenges- both as an aid worker in the country, but the struggles between progress, profit and people – and raises questions about the ability of traditions existing with progress, or if one necessarily overtakes and consumes the other.

All four of the voices here have a different view and priority, and these will clash often as the personal interest is often in conflict or opposite to the view that is ‘best for the group’, and there is no denying that poverty and thus the political power that does not exist without a strong financial backing are huge players in this tale, and sometimes there is just no way that everyone will come out winning. An interesting and thoughtful story that should be on your shelf, for these issues will become more prevalent world-wide as progress in the name of profits continue to rule – and seeing the impact, small and large, is important in informing your stance.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at I am, Indeed

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story set in Africa will always capture my attention. I'm African and when I read books set in Africa, I'm overprotective of the people, culture and more so of the fact that it tells of a place in a continent I reside in. This book tackles one of the most contentious issues in Africa- land. It begins with a demolition in one of the slums in India and then next the author takes us through a drive in Africa in the region where Anjali works. The story then picks up on the Aanke, Fatimah's people, who receive a notice to vacate their ancestral land to pave way for a cocoa plantation and there's no talk about re-settlement and the battle is far from over when Fatimah meets Anjali.
This book had a very slow start for me. I'd have preferred to have the chapter on the notice to vacate given to the Aanke people come first, it's vibrant and from the get-go, it was easy to identify with Fatimah as being insightful, astute and courageous.
I'd have the opening story on demolition of a slum in India as part of a conversation as though Anjali was remembering something about her childhood.
The extensive description of the lands as they drive through to where the organization Anjali works for was too much, I did not take to that and coupled with the slow start, I might have rolled my eyes once or twice.
I'm grateful to NetGalley for ARc because this made for a good read and land rights and issues in Africa is not an easy topic to tackle and in fiction, the author succeeds in not only portraying the challenges the displaced people face, but how their identity is affected and also how an outsider who is trying to help gets caught in the web of lies and intimidation.

[Jim Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked about Ms. Gokhale's writing is her ability to convey the sights, sounds and smells of Kamorgan life, whether it is Mary's delicious cooking, the fragrant little flower garden that surrounds Anjali's residence, or the sensations of an Aanke marriage ceremony. The story is never rushed; it unravels at a leisurely pace, for in this part of Africa it is too hot to be in a hurry, and nothing ever happens quickly anyway. At first, I found all the various names, places and people bewildering, but Ms. Gokhale has kindly provided a cast list at the start of the book. I referred to it several times while reading Land for Fatimah.

Guernica Editions ("No Borders, No Limits") excels at publishing books by authors with diverse backgrounds who have stories to tell that emanate from their own culture, their own experiences. Land for Fatimah is an excellent example.  It is the type of book that exists to broaden the horizons of those with an interest in novels with multi-cultural roots, presenting a way of life that may be unfamiliar to us.

In short, a beautiful, reflective story that is sensitively told.

[Cardyn Brooks]

First reviewed for MediaDiversified.org February 2018 here: https://mediadiversified.org/2018/02/...

With dynamic prose evocative of turbulent times, the prologue and beginning chapters of Land for Fatimah jump start this tale about the enduring legacies of colonial imperialism in previously occupied countries. Veena Gokhale’s skillful way of conveying an immersive sense of the 1990s in the geopolitical and socioeconomic landscapes in the fictional East African nation of Kamorga as a cultural amalgam, and actual locations in India in relation to Canada, the U.N. and philanthropic organizations run by Westerners generate expectations for a depth of exploration that’s never fully realized.

Vishnu presides over the opening scene, which sets the stage for exploring variations on recurring themes of imminent domain, manifest destiny, oppression, and identity. Combined with baobab tree and Christian church imagery, a new globalized triad of creation, preservation, and destruction is formed.

The list of the cast of characters and of chapter titles are reminiscent of a Playbill®, which is consistent with the theatrical tone that infuses much of Land for Fatimah. Each chapter reads more like one frame of a story board about related characters rather than as one fully integrated story. Maybe the author intended for this effect to mimic the featured characters’ bumpy personal journeys.

If Land for Fatimah were rendered on the pages of an old-school animation flip book, disjointed gaps in the continuity of movement in the story progression would interrupt the reader’s focus. That loss of focus is magnified by the choice of Anjali as the featured character rather than the titular Fatimah.

This passage from page 37 sums up why the choice of Anjali as the main narrator dilutes this story’s potency:

She was like a plantation slave owner, with his privileges, and his duties and obligations. She had not realized back in Canada that privilege could be a trap, tying her down with responsibilities.


Anjali’s Eyes Are Opened would make a more accurate title because Anjali’s trials, tribulations, defeats, and victories as the well-intentioned, indignant, outraged do-gooder dominate the narrative.

Despite her good intentions Anjali’s narration suffers from the attitude she chides herself about on page 6, “This was not AFRICA. There was no such thing, really, except that it loomed large in the minds of foreigners.”

Anjali’s consciousness of that tendency for the continent of Africa with its 50+ culturally distinct countries to be treated as a monolith still doesn’t prevent her (or the author) from relegating Fatimah into the position of supporting character in the story named for her. That points to a fundamental challenge in art and in life when it comes to discussions, strategies, and policies planned and implemented by privileged organizations and countries to HELP (an organization in the story) disadvantaged people and countries.

Land for Fatimah is populated with an assortment of strangers in strange lands: fictional Aanke people in conflict with real Kakwa people, Westerners in African nations, farmers in cities, and other Internally Displaced Persons in flux in geographical location and philosophical disposition. Naming the fictional ethnic group Aanke seems to play on the definition of the Hindi and Urdu word aankhen, which means eyes. That word is also the title of a 2002 film about getting revenge after being cast out by bureaucratic corporate protocols. Both references support this story’s major themes.

The variety in age, ethnicity, and social class reads as believable, except for the absence of any QUILTBAG (Queer, Questioning, Unisex, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Transgender, Bisexual, Asexual, All, Gay) characters, which may reflect the author’s personal experiences drawn upon as inspiration rather than a deliberate exclusion. Their absence may also reflect an actual lack of openly QUILTBAG people in African countries during the 1990s due to safety risks.

Land for Fatimah contains only 2 or 3 profane words.

[Proofing note: incorrect/correct. On page 25, “… a few barebacked children run/ran up…”]

[BernieMck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good solid read. In Africa we meet a dying mother worried about her sons fate as well as A native family that was displaced, because the greedy, wanted their land. We also meet a number of characters who joined an organization, to help the Africans who are in need. This read was enjoyable, with a lot of characters to keep track of. I was glad to be reading on my kindle so I could perform a search periodically, to see who these people were.

[Vinay Kolhatkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

An authentic, gritty narrative, with touches of joy

In the 2000s came The Wire as a TV series, and, all of a sudden, viewers were gripped by the sheer authenticity of the fictional characters in situations that closely paralleled real life. Back then, for TV, it was a novel theme to have the best of both worlds, unlike literature which always had its compartments —literary fiction and the romanticized narratives, and never the twain were to meet. Gokhale’s story is like The Wire — un-romanticized, and complex, except that, in Africa, things get grittier and messier than anywhere else.

Her protagonist, Anjali, is a Canadian citizen of Indian origin with a Canadian partner, on a work assignment in Africa with an NGO called HELP. Gokhale herself has ticked all those boxes so she knows the terrain very well. From a seat at a confrontational board meeting, to the rural settlement where Fatimah lives, to inside Anjali’s head, the author knows where she is taking us—she’s been there, done that.

Anjali grew on me slowly. I wanted to see her life get easier, but it doesn’t.

The eponymous Fatimah heads up the farmers displaced by a government agricultural project. They are seeking both compensation and new land to call home. Anjali sides with the displaced farmers. To say Anjali meets with hurdles is to understate the gravity of her problems. But Anjali, a divorced mother, does find pockets of joy and humour amidst corruption at the highest levels, infighting within the NGO, and relationship issues. The story revolves around multiple conflicts and family relationships, with displacement as a premier theme affecting several key characters. It’s tough to have that many interwoven threads, but Gokhale handles it deftly—the reader is not overburdened.

Gokhale’s biggest strength is her penchant for artful prose, which lifts many scenes off the page. Here is a sample:

“… toddlers with distended bellies and large, appealing eyes, clad in stained old panties, entertained themselves with discoloured, wooded blocks and discarded plastic containers. One dragged an armless doll; another squeezed a cheerful rubber monkey. Others crawled in the dust, content amidst the fallen leaves of a spindly Neem tree that arched overhead.”

“Africa will clear your mind of everything but itself. Leave you breathless, beached, on an island, somewhere within its immensity. Emptiness echoing emptiness. In the middle of a scorched, arid plain, not a tree in sight, not a drop of water to be had, an unrelenting sun beating down on hard-baked earth; a dust track so faint that you wonder if it is real.”

“All she wants is to savour the sights, sounds and smells — girls braiding hair, women pounding grain in wide, wooden mortars with tall, wooden pestles, the mouth-watering smell of roasted yam.”

The featured characters are authentic but numerous, and the names are not easy for English readers—Fatimah, Amadu, Kamau, Indumati, Vandana, coupled with places like Kamorga, Venimeli and Madafi, and communities like the Aanke. Keep that list of characters that the author provides handy. They are the well-crafted backbone of the story.

That’s another of the author’s strengths—characters that feel real.

The dialogue is sparse, but generally more direct than subtextual. The plot never derails or loses momentum, but don’t expect a thriller. It’s the equestrian — walk, trot, and a few jumps -- but mostly an even pace throughout. The Point of View is largely the main protagonist’s (Anjali’s).

One drawback for me was that Anjali’s mind flashes back many times to provide readers with the needful exposition (as against sprinkling it inside the dialogue). And there is a lot of backstory. Readers are in her past often enough, and many a times, deflected there from within a scene, losing the here and now urgency. That causes the narrative to lose its pace.

But then, it’s not to such impatient readers that this novel beckons, it’s for those who prefer their stories slow, deep, and true. They will find their patience rewarded. They will find themselves transported to a land no one’s ever been to (Kamorga is a fictitious African nation), yet feel as though as they have visited not only the continent, but taken in its struggles in its awkward march to modernity, warts and all, and feel enlivened by the experience — an uplift much different from the flashy, quick-fix, James Bond world with fast payoffs.

[Polly Krize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A very complex book, dealing with, among other things, the displaced people of Africa and India. The voices here are compelling and worth listening to. Well done!

[Mark Frutkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an accomplished novel of engaging characters and gives a view of Africa that is certainly enlightening. There's a clarity and confidence to the writing that keeps the reader coming back. The further I read in the book, the more I wanted to find out how it all played out. And the ending is perfect.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way it is written is amazing, more people have to read this, very good author, recommended!

[Aisling Norris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good for reading

[Movagese]

I really liked the book.

[RoPiNa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is actually fantastic.