My father never walked on water : an exceptional story about an exceptional man

Luck strikes a small Rwandan village with the birth of a boy. Despite humble means, his protective and ambitious parents will do anything to help their son succeed in life. He is on the path to becoming a priest, but danger lurks in the backyard: ghosts, snakes, soldiers, pretty girls and the young boy’s own curiosity are all ready to snatch away the prospect of a good future.

This is a tale of adventure and an invitation to experience half a lifetime of human emotion and turbulence. We find ourselves hiding in the green hills of Rwanda during the civil war, taken visa-less across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo, and on a first ever flight — to the unknown land of China. We finally land in a cold but peaceful corner of Scandinavia where anything and everything seems possible, even crossing a river by foot.

But this journey stretches further than three continents. It explores the parent-child relationship when the new generation moves on, not only to another country but also to another world of opportunities. It presents us with the dilemma of following others’ or our own sense of adventure, and the question of success being the result of hard work or luck.

D’amour D Nordkvist was born and raised in Rwanda. After many years in Asia, he is now settled in the Swedish region of Värmland where he is raising his daughter.

Nordkvist writes with clarity and distance, reminiscent of the style of 19th-century classics, and offers an unsentimental and non-exotic perspective on colonialism, racism and identity.