In North London, the Embassy of Cambodia’s appearance surprises many people in the neighborhood because it appears so normal. There is a health center on one side of the embassy, and several ostentatious mansions on the other side. It looks like a normal “north London suburban villa” (2) and is surrounded by a red brick fence. The only indications that the building is an embassy are a brass name plaque and a Cambodian flag.

In the backyard, people are playing badminton, and the shuttlecock can be seen bouncing back and forth over the fence.

The neighbors disagree about what makes this building an embassy. Some believe it is the sign, others believe it is the flag, and many believe it is the high fence.

Fatou, the novella’s protagonist, walks past the embassy for the first time on August 6, when she’s headed to the adjacent health center. She has swum at the health center several times, and she is typically the youngest and only African patron. She enjoys swimming and is proud of the fact she taught herself to swim in the ocean in Accra, Ghana. Very few people swam in the ocean because it was rough, and the beach was covered in trash.