The hollow city of the title is Luanda, the Angolan capital, where a war orphan meets his inevitable fate. N′dala is a refugee child being escorted to Luanda with a group of children by a nun. Once they arrive, N′dala runs off to explore the city. On his travels, he meets Zé - who sees in him the traits of the warrior child N′gunga - a fisherman, who regales him with stories of the ocean and Joka and Rosita, two other marginalized streets kids who embrace him as one of their own. N′dala is lured into a robbery with the promise of easy money only to meet his tragic fate. Hollow City sits at the juncture of two vivid historical periods: the years of the Angolan revolution and the ensuing chaos of the 1980s. In N′dala, the two periods meet. N′gunga is a symbol of the revolutionary times and the real N′dala is very much a product of its aftermath. N′gunga is a brave warrior aware that the world needs to change. N′dala, sadly, has no future in the current decadent world.