Promises

by Goretti Kyomuhendo

From the award winning author of Waiting...


Promises are like tilapia from Lake Victoria—glittering, evasive… slippery.


From warm Kampala to gloomy London, Goretti Kyomuhendo’s novel charts the joys and tribulations of Ajuna and her fiancé, Kagaba. Young, highly skilled, and ambitious, both are caught up in financial hardship in their native Uganda. When Kagaba leaves for the UK as an economic immigrant, Ajuna’s happy, fulfilling relationship is under threat. And in the indifferent UK, Kagaba must battle the cold, and the cold shoulder of London.


Promises exposes the shadow world of illegal immigrants, and the creativity with which people in the legal margins rise to meet an inhumane system. But for both Kagaba and Ajuna, a glimmer of hope comes from unexpected quarters.


Populated with an expansive array of vibrant characters, Goretti Kyomuhendo’s novel examines the promises we keep and those we break when relationships are profoundly tested by circumstance and twists of fate. It is a vivid tapestry of Ugandan family life, and catches the universal emotions of love, death, and betrayal.

296 pages, Paperback

Published May 6, 2025

Reviews

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seemed more focused on the problems of a long distance relationship and academic infighting than it did on immigration. However, I enjoyed the writing style. 3.5 stars. I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horribly written. Just phenomenally bad prose. Replete with similes that don't work, like "hot vapour was coming out of his mouth like a steam train" (so the vapour is the train?), and other awkward constructions. "The apartment was housed in a two-bedroomed house" and "Her body exuded a sexiness" are just two examples of sentences that made me physically cringe. The dialogue is unnatural and all characters sound exactly the same. Many of the characters are also incredibly flat and only seem to exist to serve Kagaba, who then still goes on complaining without ever taking responsibility for his own life. The lapses in the characters' logic were driving me up the wall, too. For example, one woman gets pregnant while on the pill and her partner accuses her of cheating – bro, that is NOT how it works. This is also not used for characterization because all the characters are equally stupid. As for the story, I found the plot to be both contrived (Kyomuhendo is very heavy-handed with her foreshadowing) and ultimately uninteresting.

[Jacqueline Nyathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like I should preface this with this: This is my first Goretti Kyomuhendo. And what a delight it turned out to be.

Ajuna and Kagaba are a young couple with dreams. Kagaba, though, has not been able to secure a job in Uganda after his degree—so he does what so many young Africans have done, and makes a plan to move to the UK where he’ll get a job and earn lots of pounds, hopefully. He and Ajuna do their best to come up with the money needed for his move, then borrow where they fall short; the (fraudulent) paperwork needed is done through the friend of a friend. After a false start, Kagaba finally makes it to the UK, but—again, the experience of so many young Africans—when he gets there, things are not what he had hoped. In spite of his best attempts, he falls through the cracks of the system.

This is the tale of how the dream of migrant life rarely works out as imagined by young Africans, particularly when they migrate outside of regular channels. It’s also the story of paused lives and broken dreams—because Ajuna and Kagaba’s relationship undergoes severe stress as they live apart. Other characters in this superb novel are on parallel tracks to these two: So many hopes, so much striving, and so much loss. You can’t help but feel for these young people and the ambitions that drive them, the hope for a better life. The punishment they endure for their audacity to dream like this is heartbreaking.

Other wonderful things in this novel: A portrayal of the intricacies of African weddings. Predatory pastors, always ready to pounce on those in need—like irregular migrants hiding from the law. Single motherhood, and that (matchless) African extended family support system—how it may feel like a burden sometimes, but how it holds us all up when it’s most needed. There’s also subtext commentary about how that extended support system is often severely strained, but (usually, hopefully) not broken when it’s called upon in distant lands. And although I felt much kinship in how universally “African” this story was, *Promises* is also loaded with Ugandan culture and context. I learnt a lot!

So many Africans have a migration story now—theirs, or that of people they know. Kyomuhendo has gathered the threads of a sadly common one into a tragic and moving story of ruined young lives; about the best intentions, and how the road to hell is paved with them. Like the best African oral history, *Promises* is both a record of time and place and also a cautionary tale. That it is written in soaring yet accessible prose with characters you come to love is just proof of Kyomuhendo’s creativity

Two quotes to summarise the themes of the novel for me:

“London had changed him. It had tainted his mind with pessimism. It had robbed him of his innocence and left him dry as a bone.”

… but also

“It was possible to create a family beyond blood ties.”

Many thanks to Catalyst Press and Edelweiss for early DRC access.

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ajuna and Kagaba, two young, educated Ugandans whose engagement and hopes for the future are shattered when Kagaba leaves for the UK to find work, leaving Ajuna behind in Kampala. In London he faces cold hardship, social marginalization, and the grim reality of life as an economic immigrant with precarious status, while back home Ajuna struggles under pressure to support family and manage expectations. The novel portrays the immigrant experience honestly, exposing the shadow world of undocumented work, broken promises, and the emotional toll of separation, while also exploring how love, friendship, and community attempt to hold people together across continents. Through its vivid depiction of ordinary lives caught between dreams and reality, Promises becomes a powerful examination of how migration reshapes identity, relationships, and hope when circumstances force once-shared futures to fracture.

I really liked this alot at the beginning but it got less original as the story progress, though this perhaps underlines the way such an experience plays out of two people seperated by continents. I found it a compelling and quick read.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad and difficult book describing the struggles of people looking for a better life and the promises they make and break.
In this case, an Ugandan man with two graduate degrees and no job prospects leaves his fiancé and moves to the UK where he is promised help getting work. Of course he has no work visa so the only work is off-the-books manual labor (courier, janitor, etc). Yet, that’s more than he made at home. Then his fiancé is pregnant and sending money home becomes even more critical.
It’s a story about building community where you can, getting and giving emotional support, and about the immigrant experience: the hiding, skimming, making do, and the desperation. Heartbreaking. Beautifully written and narrated.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @HighbridgeAudio, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook for review purposes. Publication date: 12 August 2025.

[Shiffah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story of love and dreams. A roller coaster of emotions with characters whose development will surprise you.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this migrant/love/true-to-life story set in Kampala, Uganda and London, UK.