I like novels which take me to a whole new world. Usually these are historical or science fiction and often involve a main character who doesn't really fit in as this provides a window on the situation for the reader.
This novel is of rather recent history as it is set in modern Zimbabwe with an urban albino schoolboy visiting relatives in a rural area. But there is another story of his grandmother when she was a young woman in the time of apartheid, terror and turmoil shortly before Rhodesia gained independence. The two stories are successfully linked and interwoven so the reader is soon hooked and is determined to reach the outcome.
I have previously read another powerful story about the difficult life of an albino in Zimbabwe (The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah) so I already had some understanding of the prejudice and unease at the possible danger. Combining the themes of albinism and apartheid gives some very literal and unavoidable experiences of hatred and cruelty sprouting from skin colour.
Rutendo Tavengerwei writes well and movingly. She brings the settings to life and describes those details of how her characters act which really make them familiar to the reader. The teenage boy, Tumi, grows markedly in maturity and understanding as his relationship with his grandmother develops and events in his own life spiral into unwanted drama. This is an author I will want to encounter again.
This novel is of rather recent history as it is set in modern Zimbabwe with an urban albino schoolboy visiting relatives in a rural area. But there is another story of his grandmother when she was a young woman in the time of apartheid, terror and turmoil shortly before Rhodesia gained independence. The two stories are successfully linked and interwoven so the reader is soon hooked and is determined to reach the outcome.
I have previously read another powerful story about the difficult life of an albino in Zimbabwe (The Book of Memory by Petina Gappah) so I already had some understanding of the prejudice and unease at the possible danger. Combining the themes of albinism and apartheid gives some very literal and unavoidable experiences of hatred and cruelty sprouting from skin colour.
Rutendo Tavengerwei writes well and movingly. She brings the settings to life and describes those details of how her characters act which really make them familiar to the reader. The teenage boy, Tumi, grows markedly in maturity and understanding as his relationship with his grandmother develops and events in his own life spiral into unwanted drama. This is an author I will want to encounter again.