QUICK DELIVERY
Swift dispatch
Aquilina by Masimba Musodza
Impeccably rooted in African mythology with that particular brand of Musodza magic, artfully blending mystical and modern worlds,” Ivor W. Hartmann, StoryTime Magazine, 2008
If there is one thing that anyone who has read Musodza’s previous novel in Shona will have learnt to expect, it is a fearsome monster. He holds up his imaginary monster like a mirror against the real monsters of [Zimbabwean] society”- Ednah Masanga, Amplifying Women’s Voices, 2015
A translation of a story about a young man’s descent into pathological misogyny, with a chilling hint at the supernatural…
A young teacher, Hatifari Maforimbo, enters Tswakata Polic Station one morning and reports that he has just murdered his live-in girlfriend, Aquilina. His lengthy statement takes us to his troubled past, and his descent into what the psychiatrist describes as “pathological misogyny” leading to this tragic, brutal conclusion. However, there is a hint of something the police are not equipped to contend with, something ghostly…
Beneath this thick skin by Nyasha Mel...
What goes on in the lives of the people we meet everyday beneath the physical? What secrets do they hide, what scars do they bear, what battles do they fight? In her debut short story collection, Nyasha Chiyanike peels back the layers of her characters and exposes their raw and vulnerable selves. With honesty, compassion, and insight, she invites us to share their journeys and witness their transformations. This is a gripping and poignant collection that will touch your heart and open your eyes.
Shards by Cynthia Rumbidzai
Shards is an allegorical, amorphous soliloquy about two pivotal days in the life of a troubled young woman from a middle-class Zimbabwe family. The rhapsodic story follows the protagonist as she experiences a profound existential crisis precipitated by an ancestral calling she has long refused to accept and grows increasingly disillusioned and alienated. It is set against the backdrop of a country beset by sociopolitical troubles and grappling with unfulfilled hopes in the dregs of the colonial era.
Cynthia Marangwanda’s background as a spoken word artist is evident throughout her writing as she deftly explores African spirituality and how it clashes with the dictates of modernity.
Shards is the first novella by Marangwanda. It was well-received in her native Zimbabwe, earning her a National Arts Merit Award for debut published work in 2015.
Mensah’s London Blues and other...
Set between the United Kingdom and Africa, Mensah’s London Blues chronicles the lives of characters from different parts of largely post-colonial Africa, as they deal with challenges of the diaspora and the shortcomings of independence. But it sets itself apart by offering more than the socio-political commentary or tackling the “Is the grass greener?” diasporan agenda. The world it is set in is merely a backdrop to the complexity and eccentricity of the characters that Austin Kaluba brings to life with his raw literary prowess. At the heart of the collection, Kaluba exposes the inherent will of his protagonists to survive, despite the odds that threaten to erase whatever morsel of humanity they possess. The vulnerability of protagonists caught between two radically different worlds irreconcilable in culture and social norms as they attempt, unsuccessfully, to fit in, forces them to confront their individual identities.
The Leak by Shingi Mavina
In this episodic novella, Mavima introduces Kuda, a man in his early 20s, living a banal existence shared by many of his peers in contemporary Harare. He has resigned himself to the life of mundane, inescapable drudgery. As he listlessly navigates the throes of early adulthood in urban Zimbabwe, Kuda worries that his existence may already have plateaued. When his US-based cousin Tawanda visits home for the first time in years, he provokes Kuda into seeking the escape from his entrapped life that had long eluded him. Their conversation sets in motion a series of events, memories, and encounters that leave Kuda with a new lease of life. Yet in his pursuit of greener pastures, he embarks on a surreal path where he is confronted with familial conflict, disease, dashed hopes, love and camaraderie in the strangest of places, and death.
Words And Other Weapons by Thembe Khu...
Words and Other Weapons is an abstract literary art piece that refuses to categorise itself in any singular literary genre. Instead, it offers a scenic, panoramic window into the relationships women have with self and society, diligently exploring questions of identity and adulthood, motherhood and marriage, relationships and careers, among others, and how these are reconciled with the maddening complexities and uncertainties of the external world. Thembe Khumalo deploys a range of different writing styles from stream of consciousness to gossipy chic lit, news reports to detailed dialogue and the end result for the introspective reader, is a collection that provides a bittersweet treat with layers of unique insights that keep the mind reflective long after the last page is turned.