WHISPERS OF THE NILE
Ben Katongole has mastered the art of being invisible in the last three years at St. Jude's Secondary School. A scholarship boy from rural Masaka, he understands his station: head down, grades up, and never, ever draw attention to himself. But when he falls in love with Sheila Nalwanga-the bold, beautiful girl who makes his heart sing whenever she takes the stage in chapel-his carefully constructed safe world shatters in one humiliating moment.
Mark Okello, the school bully who is wealthy and regards Sheila as his territory, steals the letter and reads it aloud to the whole school. Ben does what he has always done when faced with a fight: he flees.
But Sheila surprises him. She offers him a second chance rather than mockery. Where he anticipates judgment, she sees beyond the cowardice of the intelligent, sweet boy within. As they carry on their clandestine romance in stolen moments and secret places, Ben is compelled to ask himself the question that has haunted him his entire life: can a boy who always runs ever learn to stand and fight?
When Mark launches a ruthless campaign to destroy them-outing Ben's family's poverty, playing on Sheila's pride, and making their love the school's scandal-Ben must make an impossible choice. He can protect his scholarship and his family's sacrifice by ending it, or he can risk everything for the girl who showed him that courage isn't the absence of fear, but action despite it.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of a Ugandan boarding school, Whispers of the Nile is a novel about the power of first love to transform us, the cost of standing up to bullies, and discovering that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is choose to be seen.
Perfect for fans of coming-of-age stories about class, courage, and the messy beauty of young love.