The first part of the book was a 4 star read for me. Halima's voice was engaging and funny, and I was swept up in her perspective. I couldn't put the book down. I loved her turns of phrases and gossiping, her bossiness, the way she reminisced. 

However, the second part of the book, where the perspective switched to Jacob Wainright, did not work for me personally (objectively it was equally fantastic). The character was educated and converted by white men, and his perspective was told through diary entries in the stodgy, dry style that was popular at the time. I totally understand the decision to write the character in this way, and I thought it was very smart, but it was also much more difficult to connect with. It's quite possible that my dislike stems from how well done it actually was, and my memories of having to read accounts such as those in University. 

And so, I can't possibly rate this book. I think it examined the topics of slavery and colonialism and religious conversion in interesting ways - having the people closest to Livingstone examine his life/beliefs allowed for nuance and complexity. The writing style showed how talented Gappah is as a writer. But I felt dread every time I tried to return to Jacob's diary entries, and so my experience reading the book was meh.