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Specks of Dust: A Novel
A large winter jacket. A faded Lugandan Bible. A passport with an expired visa. Twenty-two dollars.
When Umaru Moses arrived in the USA from Uganda at eighteen, he saw it as an opportunity to leave behind his troubled past and form a new life. But one year later, he finds himself cut off from everyone he cared about, with fewer resources than he arrived with, and a religious struggle raging within him.
Now Umaru finds his entire plan for a life in America at the brink of a cop approaches him as he sleeps behind a grocery store in Georgia. As the threat of deportation looms, he must contend with the decisions that led him here.
Teaming up with a group of similarly hardened homeless kids in order to survive in the slums of Kampala. Umaru eked out a life for himself by scrounging for food, huffing gasoline, and stealing scrap metal. When an underfunded orphanage supported by a group of overzealous Christian missionaries offer to take him in, Umaru sees it as divine intervention. With that belief of deliverance and little else, he seizes upon his chance to live in America by running away during a field trip to Chicago.
Instead, Umaru finds himself in a more polarizing society than he anticipated and what he thought was an escape turns out to be a reckoning with his faith, sacrifices, sexuality, and upbringing through flashbacks and episodes that highlight his battle with his traumatic past.
A coming-of-age story at its heart, the book interweaves tales of survival, perseverance, struggle, and hope to create a collage of modern American culture and its influence on those who seek to assimilate into it.
When Umaru Moses arrived in the USA from Uganda at eighteen, he saw it as an opportunity to leave behind his troubled past and form a new life. But one year later, he finds himself cut off from everyone he cared about, with fewer resources than he arrived with, and a religious struggle raging within him.
Now Umaru finds his entire plan for a life in America at the brink of a cop approaches him as he sleeps behind a grocery store in Georgia. As the threat of deportation looms, he must contend with the decisions that led him here.
Teaming up with a group of similarly hardened homeless kids in order to survive in the slums of Kampala. Umaru eked out a life for himself by scrounging for food, huffing gasoline, and stealing scrap metal. When an underfunded orphanage supported by a group of overzealous Christian missionaries offer to take him in, Umaru sees it as divine intervention. With that belief of deliverance and little else, he seizes upon his chance to live in America by running away during a field trip to Chicago.
Instead, Umaru finds himself in a more polarizing society than he anticipated and what he thought was an escape turns out to be a reckoning with his faith, sacrifices, sexuality, and upbringing through flashbacks and episodes that highlight his battle with his traumatic past.
A coming-of-age story at its heart, the book interweaves tales of survival, perseverance, struggle, and hope to create a collage of modern American culture and its influence on those who seek to assimilate into it.
387 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 15, 2023
3 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Will Duncan
1 book3 followersWill Duncan is the author of Specks of Dust. Born in rural western North Carolina, he began writing in 2011, taking creative writing classes throughout his young adulthood, including at his alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill. In 2017, he spent two months working with a nonprofit Christian orphanage in Uganda. He has worked previously in writing and editing for the Courtauld Institute in London, UK, and for Life With Dignity in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is currently based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and works as a software developer.
Major influences to his writing include William Faulkner, Philip Roth, Vladamir Nabokov, Barbara Kingsolver, Tommy Orange, and Bruce Springsteen.
Major influences to his writing include William Faulkner, Philip Roth, Vladamir Nabokov, Barbara Kingsolver, Tommy Orange, and Bruce Springsteen.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 7, 2026
Specks of Dust is a deeply affecting and introspective novel that explores displacement, faith, survival, and identity through the eyes of a young immigrant caught between worlds. Will Duncan crafts a narrative that is both intimate and expansive, moving fluidly between Uganda and the United States to examine what it truly means to seek freedom, and the cost of that pursuit.
Umaru Moses arrives in America believing he has escaped hardship, only to discover that exile can take subtler, more isolating forms. Duncan grounds the novel in stark realism, opening with the few possessions Umaru carries and immediately establishing the fragility of his situation. As the threat of deportation looms, the story unfolds through a series of vivid flashbacks that illuminate Umaru’s past, life on the streets of Kampala, the uneasy refuge of a missionary-run orphanage, and the faith that both sustains and complicates his journey.
What makes Specks of Dust especially compelling is its refusal to simplify. The novel grapples honestly with religious devotion, doubt, sexuality, trauma, and cultural collision without moralizing or sentimentality. Duncan’s prose is measured and deliberate, allowing the emotional weight of Umaru’s experiences to emerge naturally. The result is a powerful coming-of-age story that feels both personal and broadly reflective of modern migration and assimilation.
Ultimately, Specks of Dust is a novel about endurance, about what remains when certainty falls away, and how hope can persist even in the most fractured circumstances. It’s a thoughtful, resonant work that lingers well beyond its final page.
Umaru Moses arrives in America believing he has escaped hardship, only to discover that exile can take subtler, more isolating forms. Duncan grounds the novel in stark realism, opening with the few possessions Umaru carries and immediately establishing the fragility of his situation. As the threat of deportation looms, the story unfolds through a series of vivid flashbacks that illuminate Umaru’s past, life on the streets of Kampala, the uneasy refuge of a missionary-run orphanage, and the faith that both sustains and complicates his journey.
What makes Specks of Dust especially compelling is its refusal to simplify. The novel grapples honestly with religious devotion, doubt, sexuality, trauma, and cultural collision without moralizing or sentimentality. Duncan’s prose is measured and deliberate, allowing the emotional weight of Umaru’s experiences to emerge naturally. The result is a powerful coming-of-age story that feels both personal and broadly reflective of modern migration and assimilation.
Ultimately, Specks of Dust is a novel about endurance, about what remains when certainty falls away, and how hope can persist even in the most fractured circumstances. It’s a thoughtful, resonant work that lingers well beyond its final page.
November 22, 2025
Specks of Dust is a powerful, deeply affecting coming of age novel that explores identity, displacement, and survival through the eyes of Umaru Moses a young man torn between the trauma of his past and the fragile hope of a future he desperately wants to believe in. Will Duncan crafts an unflinching, emotionally layered narrative that moves between the brutal realities of life on the streets of Kampala and the isolating challenges of undocumented life in America. Rich with introspection, social complexity, and spiritual conflict, this novel offers a vivid, haunting portrait of a young immigrant wrestling with faith, belonging, and the weight of his own history. Specks of Dust is a heartbreakingly human story raw, honest, and ultimately hopeful.
August 16, 2025
Specks of Dust skillfully delves into the core of the human experience. Umaru Moses is a relatable and accessible central figure, leading the reader through his winding journey of self discovery and revelation without shying away from even the ugly realities he experiences. Duncan's writing is immersive, painting an illuminating picture of Kisenyi, Chicago, and all its characters. Specks of Dust is compelling and suspenseful, driving each reader forward to discover what will become of Umaru.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews