Claiming Love

summary

A Summary

Gina, a young beautiful and intelligent girl embarks on a journey of discovery of her true identity. After she overhears the woman she has for long called or thought was her mother tell a family friend how she “wished that she, Gina was her own daughter” she runs away from home to search for her parents. This quest takes her to places she has never travelled, meeting people of different cultures who have some not-so-good background experiences to share. She realizes that she is not alone in the struggle to make relevance of life. As fate would have it she falls into the hands of the philanthropist Lovelady who takes care of her as her own daughter. The good old lady gives her the opportunity to advance her education and Gina does not hesitate; she chooses to take up studies in psychology and sociology for the simple reason that she wants to understand the people around her and her world in general.

After successfully completing her university degree, Lovelady – whom Gina calls mother now – uses her wide connections and networks in the business world to secure the young girl a job at the Hotel Aladdin which is owned by the impeccable Fatma Said, businesswoman per excellence and a very good friend of Lovelady. The hotel is situated in the south of the coastal tourist city of Mombasa. Life is good and easy going until one night when through the whispers of the cool breeze from the Indian Ocean and a dream rekindle the strong desire to go out  searching for her parents. Incidentally at this time back at her rural home there has been an outcry; newly born children are being trafficked and the locals have petitioned the government to investigate and bring the culprits to book. The person leading the investigations is none other than the highly respected and at times feared Chief Inspector of Police Jackson Papa John.

The investigations suck in a number of players including the criminal underground led by the Boss who oversees and rules over an obscure entity going by the name of the Association of the Emancipated and his sidekicks, the assassin EX and the militaristic Walter; the main suspect in this saga is Doctor Fred Otis who goes on the run and finds accommodation in the confines of the AE, there businesswoman Vanessa who for twenty long years has believed that her pregnancy was stillborn as was indicated to her by the doctors at the time of delivery.

The story takes us through scenes of betrayal and lies; a mosaic of love gone sour and steamy love-making. There is no shortage interesting twists and turns. At the end of it all there are tears and laughter, winners and losers.