Guilty

Joan Thatiah

Raised in a small village in Eastern Kenya, Judith is determined to escape her tumultuous childhood. At 29, the first-born daughter of a retired cotton refinery worker in Mbeere joins the ranks of Nairobi City office executives and imagines she has succeeded in her mission. When she returns to the village for her mother’s funeral and meets a mysterious stranger, she is completely taken by him. But Jeffari is a man on a mission. She is his mark, too busy trying to smash the glass ceiling to notice him leading her to the core of East Africa’s largest terrorism network. Joan Thatiah gives a charming portrait of Kenya’s corporate city life, the politics necessary to succeed in it, the struggle to find love and meaning, and an immersive look into the psychology of what leads some to extremism.