Hermann Schulz Zurück nach Kilimatinde (Back to Kilimatinde) Carlsen Verlag, July 2003. 240 pp. ISBN 3-551-58117-7 This book is the story of a wayward teenager's search for his father and for a sense of belonging and home. It starts at a fairground boxing ring where Nick, back in Germany after a childhood spent in Africa, is reporting the scene during work experience on his local newspaper. But soon, at the instigation of a successful businessman, he and his girlfriend Valerie are heading back towards the country where he was born, equipped with money for a comfortable trip, plus a few extra days in an enticing-sounding beach resort. The real object of the journey is to re-establish links with his father, whom the enigmatic businessman says is in some sort of trouble. But Nick's father is an isolated missionary in a tiny Tanzanian hamlet, and has been largely absent from his son's life. Why should Nick bother to help him? Nick's journey along the dusty, potholed roads gives him plenty of time to reflect on his childhood, while the scenes he witnesses and the talk of the people around him arouse buried memories of his African past. He arrives in Kilimatinde to find a sick and irritable man curled up on a bunk, talking only at night, sleeping or gazing vacantly during the day, passive, even when it comes to being washed and fed. Nick's father, as he confesses, feels abandoned by God. As they talk or sit in silence, Nick's moods range from fury to contentment, yet gradually their strange confrontations work a degree of cathartic healing. But Nick is about to lose his father for a second and final time. Schulz succeeds in capturing the confusion and bewilderment of his teenage protagonist. The African backdrop is vivid and unusual, but this is a universal story about growing up and coming home.