By the sea

Fleeing the m and tica island of Zanzi bar, a land of perfume and spice merchants cradled by the monsoons, Saleh Omar, a 65-year-old trader, arrives at Gatwick airport with a mahogany box full of incense and a fake passport. To communicate with him, social services turn to Latif Mahmud, a poet expert in Swahili, a teacher and a volunteer exile who lives peacefully in a London apartment.