Alie Basma's Days in the Sun: Memories of a Sierra Leonean Boyhood is a nostalgic evocation of a quintessentially '60s & '70s Sierra Leone. It is a remarkable memoir, which pays homage to family bonds; a hymnal to the love of learning; celebrates adventure and juxtaposes faith with tradition. It is a coming-of-age book, which rekindles our childhood interests in games, comics and films; commends the triumph of our human spirit over pains; ambition over poverty; exults positive thinking over overt risks and celebrates the author’s Afro-Lebanese ancestry starting with the arrival of his granddad penniless in Sierra Leone. It is also a book of childhood indulgences, a family and national saga, a memoir of love and relationships, a dairy of pain and of the harshness of life and a story of a successful African dream. The author’s insightful characterization and keen eyes bring alive school mates and teachers, childhood friends, ‘Wachnet’ lanterns, mango seasons, drivers, traders, security guards, policemen, nannies, house workers, ‘raray’ boys and animals; even the mentally ill men and women of the streets of Freetown all get a spotlight in 'Days in the Sun'.