Burn My Heart [Kindle Edition]

Mathew and Mugo are friends. Mathew is white, and Mugo is black, working in the kitchen of Mathew's parents in Kenya. Their story is set during the troubled 1950s known as "The Emergency" by the British colonialists. Mugo is frequently responsible for the younger boy even though he has slight control over him. Mathew knows little of the troubles between the races, and has his mind set on adventure. He gets more than he bargained for when he slips through a gap in the new fence his father has built around their property, forcing Mugo to follow him into the bush in order to protect him.

Mugo is a well-intentioned boy, who, through no real fault of his own, ends up on the wrong side of his father, Mathew's father, and the Kikuyu fighters known as the Mau-Mau. When his immature friend starts a fire for which he is afraid to take responsibility, Mugo and his father are blamed, tortured, and imprisoned. Mugo and his family suffer injustice at every turn and are ultimately deported with Mugo realizing that he is now responsible for his family. The author tells the stories of the two boys in alternating chapters. She captures the thoughts and emotions of both, especially Mugo, who suffers to the extent that his heart burns within him. Justifiably.

"Mugo knew the story of his grandfather's adventuring spirit. When Baba was a little boy, Grandfather had gone away to Nairobi. He found work with the British army, and when a big war started between the British and Germany wazungu [white people], Grandfather went to help carry the wounded soldiers.
"However, when Mugo's grandfather was away from home, a family of wazungu had arrived in an oxcart. The mzungu man, the head of this family, had a piece of paper called 'proof.' It said that he had paid money for this land and that now it belonged to him! Grandfather's younger brothers had protested that there must be a mistake. They showed the mzungu man the place where their ancestors were buried near the grove of sacred mugumo trees. This was their land, their sacred place. Their family had lived here under their mountain Kirinyaga for generation after generation. But the mzungu man insisted that the 'proof' of his ownership was on his piece of paper. He would let them stay on the land if they helped him build a house, clear away brush, and work on what he called 'his farm.' Mugo's family had been stunned. There was no choice but to work for the new wazungu. This was how Baba first began to herd cattle for the Grayson family when he was not much higher than his mother's hip."

Decades later, when the story begins, it is 1951 in Kenya. Baba is an adult (and father) in charge of the stables. He has spent his life here, next to the mzungu man's son Jack Grayson, who has grown up to become the bwana [master]. Just as his father had been with Jack Grayson, young Mugo has been a big brother figure to the slightly younger Matthew Grayson.

Tensions are rapidly mounting in 1951 Kenya. The British colonialism does not permit any sharing of power with the native Kenyans. The decades of frustration experienced by the Kenyans have led to the political movement called the Mau Mau, a secret society "whose members took oaths and swore to fight unto death to get back their land." It is amidst this dramatic historical setting, and between the white boy's family and the black boy's family, that suspicion, treachery and deceit will lead to heartbreak, torture, and tragedy. (And you know very well who is going to get the bitter end of this deal.)

"Mugo looked up to see the pistol pointing at them."

Told in alternating chapters by the two teen characters who have grown up like brothers, the two hundred tensely engaging pages of BURN MY HEART make for a perfect introduction to British colonialism. I sure wish I had eye-opening books of this quality when I was in ninth grade, trying to make sense of the diversity of African geography and cultures, and the history that connects this tale to crises and issues in various corners of that continent today. And I'd love to listen in as readers debate which of these characters deserve what praise and blame for what takes place, given that all of the young characters have been born into an existing, unconscionable system.

Eleven-year-old Matthew Grayson and thirteen-year-old Mugo are more than best friends. Together, they have adventures in the Kenyan bush with Matt's trusty dog, Duma. Kenya in the 1950s seems like the perfect playground.

There are elephants, impalas, and hyenas that live in the acres and acres of "Grayson Country," land that Matt's grandfather bought from the British government. Mugo and his family are Kikuyu, native Kenyans who have lived on the land for as long as anyone remembers, and now work as servants. While Matt and Mugo's friendship crosses social, economic, cultural, and racial barriers, the political atmosphere pushes it to a breaking point as their differences increase in number and severity.

In BURN MY HEART, Beverley Naidoo crafts a story about how fear can destabilize the strongest friendships. The escalating conflict between British settlers and a group Kikuyu call the Mau Mau is told through the tight lens of the two boys.

While she voices both political sides and reveals problems of both the British settlers' treatment of the Kikuyu and the Mau Mau's destructive and coercive methods for unity, readers will be as torn as Matthew and Mugo in choosing sides. Matt's friend, Lance Smithers, is charismatic and fun, but, like his father, views the Kikuyu as sub-human. Likewise, Mugo watches as people he admires and respects join the Mau Mau.

This novel transcends its historical context. Naidoo creates characters that are faced with difficult choices, but it never seems like they are examples in a social science lesson. Readers with find her characters at times frustrating, but it is satisfying to experience how they mature and change. The author is particularly successful in not only showing how hard it is to make the right decision, but also the difficulties of determining what is right and wrong.

BURN MY HEART is a compelling novel. Five stars.

Reviewed by: Natalie Tsang