Fifteen-year-old Tumirai lives with his protective big brother, Mkoma in Harare, Zimbabwe. He's the first albino kid ever to have attended his school and constantly feels like an outsider.
When his brother is invited to go travelling for work, Tumirai goes to stay with their grandmother, Ambuya Thandie. She is scarred, in more ways than one, but her memory is a treasure trove - and her stories of Zimbabwe's war for independence are a long, long way from the history Tumirai has heard before.
The narrative skips between Tumi’s present day perspective and his grandma who retells her story from thr war and massacre in Rhodesia in the 1970s, drawing parrellels on their similar coping strategies.
I did struggle a little with the local language terms, frustratingly thr glossary appears at the end of thr novel, but would have been better at thr beginning and would certainly have added to the enjoyment of the read. This element did mean I found the book a little hard going at times.
However, this is an original book and important storytelling.
When his brother is invited to go travelling for work, Tumirai goes to stay with their grandmother, Ambuya Thandie. She is scarred, in more ways than one, but her memory is a treasure trove - and her stories of Zimbabwe's war for independence are a long, long way from the history Tumirai has heard before.
The narrative skips between Tumi’s present day perspective and his grandma who retells her story from thr war and massacre in Rhodesia in the 1970s, drawing parrellels on their similar coping strategies.
I did struggle a little with the local language terms, frustratingly thr glossary appears at the end of thr novel, but would have been better at thr beginning and would certainly have added to the enjoyment of the read. This element did mean I found the book a little hard going at times.
However, this is an original book and important storytelling.