Burn My Heart by Beverley Naidoo

Mathew and Mugo have been lifelong friends, but it isn't an easy friendship. Mathew's grandfather had taken the Kenyan land from Mugo's family, so the two boys were very aware of their difference in status. In the 1950's Kenya was a colony of the British, but the settlers were growing more and more concerned about a secret society called the Mau Mau. Determined to take back the land from the white settlers, the Mau Mau campaigned to drive the invaders out. At the same time, the British brutally repressed all hopes of freedom for the native people--leaving the friendship of Mathew and Mugo tested and betrayed.