Namisa and its sister island of Pundar are the setting for A Traveller's Guide to Namisa. Namisa is difficult to find on a map and problematic to Google, but when readers get there, they will have the time of their lives, reading about Namisa's weird locations, its language, and the idiosyncratic customs of its inhabitants.
Philip Blair is an 'innocent abroad,' but he learns quickly. Among the issues he has to contend with in his role as Officer of Culture and Education for an NGO in Namisa are the autumn-autumn uprising, the Pundexit Crisis, cultural appropriation, British imperialism, immigration, racism, the role of women, office politics, and happy-happy hour cocktails.
Procurement clerk Philip Blair desperately needs to engage someone to pose as his wife. His hope is to secure a post with the Downing Foundation on the tropical island of Namisa, home to a highly conservative society, where integrity and family values are paramount. Philip's high-speed choice of partner is not ideal, but he has limited options.
Once settled in Namisa with a fake and disgruntled 'marriage' companion, Philip is obliged to live a lie and suffer the trials of intercultural miscommunication. He seeks insight from his well-thumbed copy of Namisa - A Traveller's Guide: from tradition to tourism and back by Michael Robinson-Smith, but still he grapples with the complexities of Namisan rituals, language, cuisine, and multicoloured cocktails, shared with the ambiguous yet charismatic academic Ito Bogadan.
On Namisa we meet the culturally enlightened Mrs Katraree, owner of the SnowWhite Dry Kleen Shop, the SnowWhite Sandal Repair Service, and the SnowWhite Dry Kleen Coffee Circle. Through her, we come to understand that Namisa is an island rich in tradition, poised ready to embrace new beliefs on the backcloth of the Autumn-Autumn uprising, and the Pundexit crisis.
Yet... beneath Namisa's gentle exterior, there lie the seeds of corruption, prejudice, and double standards. There are less-than-ethical goings-on at the University of Trinamisa, and there is conflict between the wealthy Namisans and the less-fortunate Pundaris from Namisa's dark and sinister sister island of Pundar.
Bogadan, in his quest to appropriate the funding that Philip controls, seeks to uncover the truth behind Philip's marriage. Providing Philip does not cross Bogadan or his manipulative mother Grace Shoon Bogadan, his secret and his job will be safe, though his principles will be compromised.
A Traveller's Guide to Namisa is a contemporary, modestly amusing, coming-of-age-for-late-developers kind of novel, set in a world of work for the inadequately qualified.
If you enjoyed Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, and if you enjoyed The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, then the likelihood is that you will also enjoy A Traveller's Guide to Namisa.
