by Christina Lamb (Author)
A powerful and intensely human insight into the civil war in Zimbabwe, focusing on a white farmer and his maid who find themselves on opposing sides. One bright morning Nigel Hough, one of the few remaining white farmers in Mugabe's Zimbabwe, received the news he was dreading - a crowd were at the gate demanding he surrender his home and land. To his horror, his family's much-loved nanny Aqui was at the head of the violent mob that then stole his homestead and imprisoned him in an outhouse By tracing the intertwined lives of Nigel and Aqui - rich and poor, white and black, master and maid - through intimate and moving interviews, Christina Lamb captures not just the source of a terrible conflict, but also her own conviction that there is still hope for one of Africa's most beautiful countries.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 05 Feb 2007
ISBN 10: 0007219393
ISBN 13: 9780007219391
`Lamb is a careful observer, and her anguished refrain is the terrible schizophrenia of people who fiercely love their land but do nothing to save it...the strength is in the storytelling...it is a good piece of reportage...her book deserves to be read.' Daily Telegraph
`A perceptive account of Zimbabwean history since the colonial days.' Times Literary Supplement
'Riveting...Lamb's book tells a disaster story on a massive scale.' Daily Mail
'Compelling...Lamb has a remarkable pair of stories to tell, and does so extremely well.' The Spectator
Christina Lamb is one of Britain's leading foreign correspondents and a bestselling author. She has won 14 major awards including five times being named Foreign Correspondent of the Year and Europe's top war reporting prize, the Prix Bayeux. She is the author of numerous books including `Farewell Kabul', `The Africa House', `Waiting For Allah', `The Sewing Circles of Herat' and `House of Stone'. She co-wrote the international bestselling `I am Malala' with Malala Yousafzai and `Girl from Aleppo' with Nujeen Mustafa. She is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, an honorary fellow of University College, Oxford and was awarded an OBE by the Queen in 2013.