Harare Review of Books

274 pages.

First published Nov. 7, 2023 (Catalyst Press)

Fiction.

I was excited to get access to a DRC from a new Zimbabwean novelist, Tsitsi Mapepa. This rather complicated story introduces us to Zuva and her daughter, Nyeredzi, who have moved with the rest of the family from Marondera to Harare. Mild spoilers follow.

Zuva’s involved backstory is that she is a Manyika princess and a former freedom fighter. Her husband, Mwedzi, is a man whose life she saved. Nyeredzi is their precocious daughter who discovers during the course of the novel that she has access to the ancestors. The family’s story is one of triumph and tragedy, linked with snippets of Zimbabwean history.

I have several criticisms, but please note that these are related to the advance copy. The novel tries to do far too much, and the author introduces several threads that really don’t go anywhere. Where there are descriptions, they are too detailed, leading the reader to think those things are of significance to the story, when they’re not. I did not find the descriptions of Zuva’s family’s wealth at all persuasive (gold and precious minerals lying around?), although the descriptions of her home in Manicaland are some of the best parts of the book. Zuva herself is not fully developed, and remains a kind of distant and yet also overdone character.

Parts of the novel fit very nicely into Nnedi Okorafor’s “Africanjujuism” genre; these are really wonderfully written, and made me wish more of the novel covered this. I was also delighted by Nyeredzi and her arc, and was glad she was one of the main characters. The spirits of the waterfall and cave (Selina and Heroshina) were also fascinating.

In all, this is a novel with potential, and I hope Mapepa continues to write more stories like this, and that she would perhaps explore the world she built in Manicaland in further novels.

Thanks to Catalyst and to Edelweiss for the DRC.