Borderlines is a gripping courtroom drama. British lawyer Paula Shackleton is mourning a lost love when she meets Winston Peabody, a litigator in search of a cause. He represents the African state of North Darrar, embroiled in a border arbitration case and needs help with the hearings in The Hague. Paula needs to forget the past.

She flies to the state capital determined to lose herself in work, but soon discovers that even jobs taken with the purest intentions can swiftly become morally compromised. Taking testimony in scorching refugee camps, delving into the colonial past, she becomes increasingly uneasy about her role. Budding friendships with a scarred former rebel and an idealistic young doctor whittle away at her pose of sardonic indifference, until Paula finds herself taking a step no decent lawyer should ever contemplate.

Author of I Didn’t Do it For You and Its Our Turn to Eat, Michela Wrong has been writing about Africa for two decades. Join us for the launch of her debut novel, a pacy legal thriller where she probes the motives underlying Western engagement with the continent, questioning the value of universal justice and exploring how history itself is forged.