Can’t remember the last time I was this frustrated reading a book. The first half was excellent, following two men who make their way from Zanzibar (now Tanzania) to the UK in vastly different ways. I particularly enjoyed the older man’s story. But then the two stories converge and we begin to get stories within stories and the book slows to a glacial pace. I couldn’t read more than 5 pages at a time before literally falling asleep. Too many names & stories to keep track of, my brain feels like a wrung out sponge having finally reached the end