Reviews

USA Today – April 12, 2007
“The Camel Bookmobile is a novel, but its inspiration is an African library program that delivers books on the backs of camels to impoverished nomadic tribes in Kenya. Bookmobile is also the story of an American woman who finds new meaning in her own life while helping others…
Masha Hamilton’s portrayal of nomadic culture is lovingly and colorfully told. It’s a painterly glimpse into a world that few Westerners will ever see.” – Carol Memmott

Entertainment Weekly – April 6, 2007
“Friends of Fiona Sweeney, an idealistic New York librarian, think Fi’s new project – a mobile library delivering books to remote parts of Kenya- is slightly batty. So do many Kenyans. But just as Fi begins to make progress in the tiny settlement of Mididima, where she meets a bright girl hungry for guidance, a scandal involving missing books exposes powerful rifts within the village. The Kenyans, whom Hamilton imagines with greater skill and subtlety as the crises worsens, emerge as the story’s most captivating characters.” – Hannah Tucker

Bookpage – April 2007
“Masha Hamilton’s compelling third novel, The Camel Bookmobile… vibrates with the life and landscape of Africa, and Hamilton shines when presenting the foreign, and often brutal, traditions of Mididima. She neither condones nor condemns, but profiles daily existence with clear, sparkling prose and a well-executed plot peopled with characters readers can’t help but care about deeply. The author’s background as a journalist and world-traveler is evident, and her experience combined with her impeccable research into the real-life Kenyan Camel Mobile Library program makes for an enlightening new novel.” – Kristy Kiernan

Library Journal (Starred Review) – March 1, 2007
“This third novel from international journalist Hamilton presents a rare and balanced perspective on issues surrounding cultural intrusion and the very meaning and necessity of literacy, using rich and evocative prose that skillfully exposes the stark realities of poverty and charity in today’s Africa. Highly recommended for any fiction collection.” – Jenn B. Stidham

Publishers Weekly – January 29, 2007
“Hamilton’s captivating third novel follows Fiona Sweeney, a 36- year-old librarian, from New York to Garissa, Kenya, on her sincere but naïve quest to make a difference in the world. Hamilton weaves memorable characters and elemental emotions in artful prose with the lofty theme of Western imposed “education” versus a village’s perceived perils of exposure to the developed world.”