num_pages: 360
description: In 1988, a retired schoolteacher named Pius Fernandes receives an old diary found in the back room of an East African shop. Written in 1913 by a British colonial administrator, the diary captivates Fernandes, who begins to research the coded history he encounters in its terse, laconic entries. What he uncovers is a story of forbidden liaisons and simmering vengeances, family secrets and cultural exiles--a story that leads him on an investigative journey through his own past and Africa's.
language: English
title: The Book of Secrets
titlecomplete: The Book of Secrets
genres: 20th Century, Canada, Historical Fiction, Canadian Literature, Historical, Africa, Tanzania, Literary Fiction, Fiction, African Literature
ratings_count: 1174
awards: awardedAt: 757411200000
name: Scotiabank Giller Prize
publisher: Picador