Written by a London based, Zimbabwean author and musician – this is a distinctive and enjoyable second novel. Its first party titular narrator is a girl from Zimbabwe – and we learn first of her life there. Her father was rounded up when eighteen to fight the war in Mozambique – returning to his rural village, fluent in mandarin and as a “terrorist who became a liberator overnight”, eventually joining the Civil Service (where he meets Shamiso’s mother – another ex-combatant). Whereas she falls into poverty (he rejects her when she becomes pregnant and she starts selling herself to long distance truck drivers) he works his way up into the new Zimbabwe - and eventually gets his daughter bought back to him by his cousin, the oddly compelling but eccentric elder figure of Jimson (addressed as “they” in accordance with Shona tradition). After learning more of Shamiso’s time in her home country – which provides a fascinating insight into a changing country and culture, one her father continues to succeed in – her skills carving Shona gods wins her a scholarship at Brighton and the second and longer section of the novel has as its centre her complex relationship with the gender-fluid Georgie, adopted child of a mixed black/Ugandan Indian couple who first house Shamiso – both trying to understand their own identity and struggling with that of the other. Meanwhile her father continues his rise – eventually becoming an MP for Mugabe’s party, Scatterings throughout of untranslated Shona (mainly referring to family positions or honorifics but also what I think is a slightly longer fragment of poetry) and references to Shona totems and gods – add a deeper layer and complexity to the novel and I think reinforce its most crucial message – that language and world view are intimately connected. Between a Booker longlist which this year majored on the international nature of its longlist but which despite the judging panel ignored the continent of Africa, and an International Booker Prize which due to its insistence on translation tends to only ever include Francophone Africa I think this was a book which should have gathered more attention and I hope some it does get some prize recognition – not least as I would be interested to understand more of a novel which at times I think was a little too far removed from own experiences for me to appreciate what it was doing.

This short book is told from the perspective of Shamiso, a Zimbabwean young woman, who moves to London to study in search for better opportunities. The story jumps a bit in time, between fragments of her life growing up in Zimbabwe, and the cultural context of that life, and her present life in London, where she struggles with finding herself, particularly when a relationship with an unusual man diverts her attention and forces her to go through multiple ups and downs over many years. I struggled with the book, overall. The main impression I got was that of something that almost, almost, was good, but just wasn't. Perhaps it's the patchy storytelling that made it difficult for me to really understand what was happening and how the various events were connected to each other. Perhaps it was the author glossing over the character building of her lead protagonists, making their decisions difficult to understand and accept, leaving me frustrated with the apparent randomness of it all. Perhaps it was also the lack of a hook that made me care about what was actually happening. To be fair, the writing wasn't half bad, and the idea at the core of the book was fine too (albeit far from novel). I was able to finish the book, but perhaps it was because it was thankfully so short. I can't really recommend. There are so many other books dealing with contemporary identity challenges encountered by young Africans, and this one just doesn't cut it.