Voices at the Junction: A novella and stories

The stories in Voices at the Junction are set in late 20th and early 21st century Kenya, take place within the home and show family conflicts and also discuss political issues. In the novella "Voices," four first-person narrators present different perspectives on the childlessness and adultery in a family. Chacha refuses to face the fact that he may be responsible for the lack of a child in his marriage; his wife conceives through one moment of adultery with her brother-in-law and she has to decide whether to keep the child or abort. She stays with the pregnancy and leaves the family.;In "Conversing" Mogesi receives a letter written to her husband by another woman, and this leads Mogesi to contemplate the significance of a girl-child vis-a-vis a boy-child. Her two children collaboratively erect a toy house, but this does not fully satisfy Mogesi because in her thinking, the responsibility of construction should be her son's alone, but the boy happens to suffer from cerebral palsy. "The Lamp" and "The Story" also tackle the symbol of house---Rioba and Nyangi respectively regard the buildings they are in as unsafe and inhibiting.;The political stories, "Counting" and "Deadline," depict the government as insincere. In the former story the old woman sees the darkness in her hut as the administration---now represented by the census officer---which has intruded into her space and peace. The census exercise is meaningless to her because no benefits have ever come from the past counts. In "Deadline," Weisiko sees the new I.D. as a rite of passage that will be useful to her, but she is unable to get the card because of her way of telling time and also due to government forces. The walking stick, which is a campaign symbol for Uncle who is a councilor, is like a hook that fishes the citizens to their death.