Explore Forna's writing style and how she establishes character and the ideas in the opening 5 chapters of "The Memory of Love".

Adrian Lockheart a psychologist escaping his life in England, arriving in Freetown in the wake of civil struggles with intensity of the heat unexpectedly finds  a young surgeon Kai. When learning Adrian's profession his answer "Ok-ay" stresses his doubt and emphasising the fact that the english psychologist is uncomfortable with his new surroundings. This is further more shown when Forna tells the reader of the silences in sierra leonese conversations "He has yet to get used to it (silences)". Finally Forna contrasts the two characters: Adrian is "fumbling" while Kai is familiar with his environment as he prepares dinner. As a result Adrian is portrayed as an alien, Forna also implies this with scenery when she introduces the reader to his office with a "solitary window with six steal bars" and "a metal door".

Elias Cole tells the story of the first time he went to Saffia and Julius's house. They talk about the imminent moon landings, that reiterate how far apart the ambitions of the first world( in this case the Soviets and the Americans) and the needs and aspirations of the africans. The reader could ask himself if Saffia and Julius's relationship present Cole as unafrican."to the first black man on the moon" Julius's toast establishes his cultural allegiance with africans, it is also important as it will have ramifications later on. Incidentally, there has never been a black man on the moon.

In the forth chapter the pattern of switching between stories is not adhered, Forna didn't need a separate chapter but wished to emphasise the significance of the moment and maintains the illusion of a monologue by including narrative interjections from Elias as a contemporary narrator.

Overall narratives unfold in multiple time zones, with Elias retracing  and editing  a decades-old obsession with his colleague Julius' wife, Saffia; and Kai and Adrian sleepwalking through their daily affairs. There's little immediate action in the novel, and instead, Forna advances the story through tightly executed scenes that reveal themselves later on, time bombs that detonate once their context becomes clear.