Two young men from rural villages independently set out for Banjul, a large city and the capital of The Gambia. It is the 1930s and World War II approaches, even in West Africa. We catch a glimpse of the family and village of one of them but know nothing of the other. They are different in every way and the book follows them each. We learn their fortunes, their relationship to each other, and a bit about Banjul as well. The story is nothing exceptional although the writing is good and the characters, both major and minor, are well-drawn. There are fairly minor subplots relating to the place of Christianity and colonialism, but the story focuses almost without exception on the two young men and life in the city, highlighting the growing tension between tradition and modernity. Worth the time. ( )