Exploring the experience of feeling like a stranger in your own country, Sugarcane with Salt offers a glimpse into the lives and traditions of those living in 1980s Malawi.

After almost a decade of studying medicine in London, Dr. Khumbo Dala finally decides to return to his village and parents in Malawi. On his arrival, he finds a family in total disarray and a society that has undergone enormous change. Shocked to learn of his younger brother's involvement with a lucrative drug racket and his mother's marriage to a white man, Khumbo must take responsibility for the family duties he has neglected for too long. Writing with depth and nuance, James Ng'ombe creates a novel full of intriguing characters as they shape - and are shaped by - the dramatic circumstances around them.