Abdulrazak Gurnah does not just give his readers a book to read but he bestows upon them a journey to undertake. A journey into a people whose ways of life, whose histories, are unknown to outsiders.
'Once, There Was a Star' is a sublime piece of historical fiction weaved masterfully: a detailed chronological account of Ismail Muse’s life circa 1977 spanning a 10-year war and his daughter’s coming of age.
