Ace and the Misfits

In his debut novel, Eddie Kawooya presents a fish-out-of-water story of immigration and the pains and joys of integration into a new and sometimes frightening environment.

Loosely based on Kawooya’s own life, this novel follows fifteen-year-old Patrick “Ace” Katumba. Kutumba’s life is changed drastically when he, his mother, and his sister are forced to flee their lives in Uganda. Ace’s mother is a journalist who has reported on government corruption and has now been marked.

Arriving in Canada, Ace finds himself living in his uncle’s basement apartment and having to integrate into a new community where he is the “African.” Despite being an excellent student, he meets ignorance and bullying at school until he falls in with a crew of international misfits who understand what he’s going through. With their support, Ace starts to regain the confidence he lost in the move and his subsequent troubles.

At the core of this story is the isolation a child feels after his world is snatched from him, and the journey of self-worth and self-confidence he must undertake to rise above it.