His very unexotic and temporary home is then Port Talbot in South Wales, before, as the novel closes, we see him leaving for Gerset in Eritrea, to join his wife and child. His journey takes him through Abyssinia, Eritrea and Sudan to Egypt finally obtaining a passport, he travels to Britain.
This sets the tone for a story of uprooting and transient friendships: after he learns of his father’s death Jama must constantly move on in order to simply survive. Somalis are seen to be outsiders in the Arab community soon Jama’s mother dies, impelling him to leave for Somaliland in search of his father. The novel tells the story of Jama, a Somali boy who we meet living in Aden with his mother in 1935. This is owing to the fact that it is not merely a depiction of survival against the odds, and of Western brutality in Africa, as is the case in many of its kind: it is a lyrical piece of fiction, with innovative narration. Black Mamba Boy, Nadifa Mohamed’s debut novel, managed to distinguish itself from many other contemporary African novels and win or be nominated for several literary awards.
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