I've just finished this novel and realised that I never knew our protagonists name, flicking back through the pages I don't think we are ever told.
We do know he is in his forties, he teaches in the UK and has a failing heart. We also know his family in Zanzibar have no idea he lives with an English woman and has a 17 year old daughter.
This feels very much like a character study, how silence can wrap itself around unsaid words and snowball.