New York Times: Book Review: A Girl From Zanzibar.

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'A Girl From Zanzibar' is the story of  Marcella D'Souza -- a naive,
ambitious and beautiful young illegal immigrant.  The book was published on
15 Nov., 2002. $14.95, 320 pages. ISBN: 1885586604. Order from:
http://www.amazon.com

Excerpts from three reviews:

1. From Goan Voice UK 2002-46, 29 Nov. 2002:

Source: New York Times. 24 Nov. by Suzanne Ruta at
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/24/books/review/24RUTALT.html

1082 words. Excerpts:

 . entertaining novel about postcolonial migrants trying to survive in
Margaret Thatcher's Britain.

'A Girl From Zanzibar' The story of  Marcella D'Souza -- a naive, ambitious
and beautiful young illegal immigrant.

Marcella's life, as she looks back on it, is a case in point. Born from the
ruins of three major empires -- the Portuguese, the Arab, the British -- she
is, as a friend puts it, a ''Goan Indian Portugese Arab African of Catholic
Moslem parentage.'' ''You're from everywhere,'' this friend (an earnest
British aid worker who serves as the novel's deus ex machina) tells her. She
corrects him: ''I'm from nowhere.''

.arguing with her forceful Aunt Stella, a pillar of the local Goan
community. Aunt Stella, a Dickensian eccentric for sure, insists that Goans
are ''really Europeans in disguise.'' ''We have European names, some of us
have European blood. We've been European for 400 years. We eat beef. We
drink alcohol. We ballroom dance. We're European.''

Naughty Marcella disagrees: ''Just because our ancestors were the first to
jump into bed with the Portuguese when they arrived in India, doesn't make
us European.''
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2. From Goan Voice UK 2002-45, 22 Nov. 2002:

17 Nov. Newsday (New York) at
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/printedition/ny-bkpolly3004547nov17,0,5
325905.story

Excerpts:

Marcella D'Souza is the girl from Zanzibar. Her father's family comes from
Goa, another island in the Indian Ocean.

As Geoffrey, an English visitor to tells her: "I've worked it out ... You're
a Goan Indian Portuguese Arab African of Catholic Moslem parentage."

.Marcella longs to leave Zanzibar and go to Europe.No boring Goan accountant
for her, like her sister's husband, she decides. No, Marcella aspires to an
Arab or even a European as a ticket off Zanzibar.
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3. From Goan  Voice UK  2002-40, 18 Oct. 2002:

Restless, young, and ambitious Marcella D'Souza dreams of leaving her island
home of impoverished Zanzibar. A chance meeting and budding relationship
with a British academic takes Marcella to London, where she discovers other
international expatriates like herself. Unlike Marcella, they are embroiled
in matters of international intrigue and questionable banking practices. Her
new group of friends introduces Marcella to money, power, respect, and love.
Of multiethnic background-Portuguese, Indian, Arab-European-Marcella is
constantly searching for a sense of self and place, which she finds once in
England.Marcella is beautiful, bright, and business minded. Pre-publication
review by Kaite Mediatore.

See also: http://www.artbook.com/1885586604.html  Roger King, born in the
U.K. has twice been nominated for the Booker Prize. His previous novels
include Sea Level and Horizontal Hotel.

Excerpt from the book at:
http://www.turtlepoint.com/catalog/frames/books/zanzibar/zanzibarex.html
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What's On In Goa (WOIG): 
Nov 06 Children's book exhibn opens, Walkabout, Anjuna... (all weekdays)
Nov 06 ArtHouse, Calangute: Chaitali's acrylics on canvas till 19.11
Nov 07 Revision of electoral rolls (till Nov 30) See schedule.
Dec 01 Two day conference, Goa Agenda. IT For Society. (Ends 2.12) 
Every Sunday: Music therapy sessions at Moira, 5 pm. 278, N.Portugal

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