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Son of Fate
This novel is by the author of the celebrated My Life in Crime and is his first. The life of the 'Son of Fate' is a grim struggle for survival, after his release from prison. He tries his luck at farming, and odd jobs in the city, but everything fails, and he finds himself on the wrong side of the law again. But a glimmer of hope comes when he rescues a tycoon.
258 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
113 people are currently reading
1821 people want to read
About the author
John Kiriamiti
6 books188 followersJohn Batista Wanjohi Kiriamiti was born on 14 February, 1950 in Thuita Village, Kamacharia Location of Murang'a District in Central Kenya, he is the second of nine children born to Albert and Anne Wanjiru Kiriamiti, both primary school teachers (now retired) in Murang'a.
Kiriamiti studied for and passed his Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) at the local primary school in Thuita Village. He was privileged to be among the first nine African students to join the dominantly‐white Prince of Wales School (now Nairobi School) at a time when most Africans could not afford the Ksh 1,080 school fees charged. Although Kiriamiti received bursaries as a gifted African student, he joined Prince of Wales school as a day scholar and stayed with his uncle in Bahati Estate in Nairobi's Eastlands where his elder brother Sammy stayed too.
His academic life at the Prince of Wales School was short‐lived though because in his last term as a Form One student, at the age of fifteen, he was expelled from school after being the ring leader in a student's strike. That marked the end of Kiriamiti's formal education in spite of pleas from his parents to take up schooling elsewhere.
Kiriamiti resulted to wayward behaviours, and by the age of twenty, he was already a known robber and in the police "VIP list", as he calls ‘the most wanted' police list. As a criminal, Kiriamiti went by the names John Khamwene, Charles Lukindo, Richard Mwangi, Albert Ngure, Albert Wanjohi, and Jack Zollo (a name which he later used for his fictionalized self in both My Life in Crime and My Life in Prison) among others.
In 1971, after a long cat and mouse game with the police, Kiriamiti was arrested and sent to jail for twenty years with forty-eight strokes of the cane. It is at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison and Naivasha Government Maximum Prison that his first novel, My Life in Crime, was written, and the initial ideas of My Life in Prison born.
Five months after the publication of My Life in Crime (in 1984), Kiriamiti was released on grounds of good conduct, having served thirteen out of his twenty year sentence. Kiriamiti's freedom however did not last long for two years down the line (in 1986), he was sent back to jail by President Moi's regime for allegedly being involved in what the government deemed a seditious movement meant to overthrow the government (Mwakenya).
This time Kiriamiti found himself head‐on with the law after Benga musician‐turned‐soldier, Hajullas Ochieng Kabaselle, implicated him in crime. Having had interacted with most of the brains thought to be behind the Mwakenya movement like Onyango Oloo, Prof. Katama Mkangi, Mwandawiro Mgangha, Joe Ombuor and others, Kiriamiti was a natural suspect to the authorities.
Resultantly, he earned himself a seven‐year sentence for the alleged involvement in a clandestine movement. However, he was released after four years, on 11 February, 1990 (the same day that South Africa's freedom icon, Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island). As fate would have it, two days later, what was thought to be the political assassination of the Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. John Robert Ouko on 13 February, 1990 linked him to yet another ‘suspicious look' from Kenyans, as rumour had it that he "was released to kill Ouko".
Nevertheless, since his trading of the gun for a pen, and his subsequent release from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Kiriamiti has become a renowned philanthropist and social reformist rehabilitating street children and thieves in his rural Murang'a home. Besides writing novels, Kiriamiti also owns and edits a newspaper, The Sharpener, which he established after the government ban on the Gikuyu version, Inooro, in 1995.
Kiriamiti has also embarked on a programme that seeks to counsel the youth in various Kenyan Secondary and College institutions on Behaviour change and role modelling. He is now a committed family man with a wife and 3 daughters.
Kiriamiti studied for and passed his Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) at the local primary school in Thuita Village. He was privileged to be among the first nine African students to join the dominantly‐white Prince of Wales School (now Nairobi School) at a time when most Africans could not afford the Ksh 1,080 school fees charged. Although Kiriamiti received bursaries as a gifted African student, he joined Prince of Wales school as a day scholar and stayed with his uncle in Bahati Estate in Nairobi's Eastlands where his elder brother Sammy stayed too.
His academic life at the Prince of Wales School was short‐lived though because in his last term as a Form One student, at the age of fifteen, he was expelled from school after being the ring leader in a student's strike. That marked the end of Kiriamiti's formal education in spite of pleas from his parents to take up schooling elsewhere.
Kiriamiti resulted to wayward behaviours, and by the age of twenty, he was already a known robber and in the police "VIP list", as he calls ‘the most wanted' police list. As a criminal, Kiriamiti went by the names John Khamwene, Charles Lukindo, Richard Mwangi, Albert Ngure, Albert Wanjohi, and Jack Zollo (a name which he later used for his fictionalized self in both My Life in Crime and My Life in Prison) among others.
In 1971, after a long cat and mouse game with the police, Kiriamiti was arrested and sent to jail for twenty years with forty-eight strokes of the cane. It is at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison and Naivasha Government Maximum Prison that his first novel, My Life in Crime, was written, and the initial ideas of My Life in Prison born.
Five months after the publication of My Life in Crime (in 1984), Kiriamiti was released on grounds of good conduct, having served thirteen out of his twenty year sentence. Kiriamiti's freedom however did not last long for two years down the line (in 1986), he was sent back to jail by President Moi's regime for allegedly being involved in what the government deemed a seditious movement meant to overthrow the government (Mwakenya).
This time Kiriamiti found himself head‐on with the law after Benga musician‐turned‐soldier, Hajullas Ochieng Kabaselle, implicated him in crime. Having had interacted with most of the brains thought to be behind the Mwakenya movement like Onyango Oloo, Prof. Katama Mkangi, Mwandawiro Mgangha, Joe Ombuor and others, Kiriamiti was a natural suspect to the authorities.
Resultantly, he earned himself a seven‐year sentence for the alleged involvement in a clandestine movement. However, he was released after four years, on 11 February, 1990 (the same day that South Africa's freedom icon, Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island). As fate would have it, two days later, what was thought to be the political assassination of the Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. John Robert Ouko on 13 February, 1990 linked him to yet another ‘suspicious look' from Kenyans, as rumour had it that he "was released to kill Ouko".
Nevertheless, since his trading of the gun for a pen, and his subsequent release from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Kiriamiti has become a renowned philanthropist and social reformist rehabilitating street children and thieves in his rural Murang'a home. Besides writing novels, Kiriamiti also owns and edits a newspaper, The Sharpener, which he established after the government ban on the Gikuyu version, Inooro, in 1995.
Kiriamiti has also embarked on a programme that seeks to counsel the youth in various Kenyan Secondary and College institutions on Behaviour change and role modelling. He is now a committed family man with a wife and 3 daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
May 24, 2020
Another of John Kiriamiti's witty stories. The life of the 'Son of Fate' is a grim struggle for survival, after his release from prison. He tries his luck at farming, and odd jobs in the city, but everything fails, and he finds himself on the wrong side of the law again. But a glimmer of hope comes when he rescues a tycoon.
I loved the book so.
I loved the book so.
Read
January 7, 2011its good n exiting
November 30, 2016
the book is very awesome as it speaks about an ex-con who is determined to live a life without crime and to try to make an honest living but it seems that fate is against him as everything he tries ends up in failure. this is awesome work from the master of crime john kiriamiti
July 13, 2019
The story starts on a low. Adams Wamathina alias, Son of Fate, is out of prison and tries to find his footing. His wife has abandoned him and remarried. His family rejects him and the glimmer of hope is seen when he visits his grandmother. It is at this point that the book gets dramatic. It's after life at his rural home and back to the city, that the the goosebumps are alert. Be that as it may, the book ends abruptly. Thank God for its sequel, THE SINISTER TROPHY.
It's a must read. Highly engaging. A true African story.
It's a must read. Highly engaging. A true African story.
December 11, 2018
Best of all
January 4, 2019
Fantastic
January 13, 2019
A great book worth of my time.
June 11, 2019
awesome
Read
August 9, 2019One of my favorites.
August 10, 2019
I love it
Want to read
November 23, 2019Fhgj
December 2, 2019
Interesting
March 2, 2020
This book is interesting.You can read more than three times and still come back
March 31, 2020
Nice book
Currently reading
April 30, 2020Wow
May 17, 2020
Nice one
May 31, 2020
The best author mmmwaaah
August 6, 2020
Son of fate is fiction with an interesting plot that intrigued and illicit the emtions of readers. I acknowledge the author john kiriamthi perhaps very fascinating fiction.
February 23, 2021
The sinister trophy
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2021
a master piece
January 19, 2023
Gooooood
January 23, 2017
WOW!! I wish i could find this book right now
February 16, 2021
The suspense at the end of this book makes the reader want to go back to the bookstore and find the next book in the line.
August 22, 2018
Awesome
Want to read
March 2, 2017its an inspiring book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
October 10, 2014That this book changes the lives of many people who are also going through the same fate as john kiriamiti went.So i would personal like to thank the auther of the book so that he continues to help more innocent young people.CONGRATULATION!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2014
best novel ever
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2016
Story of a bad ass gangster in Kenya back in the day.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews