The stories within are fiction, though some are based on actual events of my own cats past and present. They are told by Fudge in his words and we view the world through his eyes. Where grub is food, Fur Balls are cats, dogs are dogs and anything that lives in a hole is some kind of mouse.

Sierra Leone came to world attention in the 1990s when a catastrophic civil war linked to the diamond trade was reported globally. This fleeting and particular interest, however, obscured two crucial processes in this small West African state. On the one hand, while the civil war was momentous, brutal and affected all Sierra Leoneans, it was also just one element in the long and faltering attempt to build a nation and state given the country's immensely problematic pre-colonial and British colonial legacies. On the other, the aftermath of the war precipitated a huge international effort to...