Vintage £7.99 (297pp) £7.59 from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030
The Cry of the Go-away Bird, By Andrea Eames
Friday 03 February 2012
Latest in Reviews
Elsie loves the farm that is her home; there is always tea in the silver teapot, the gin and tonics on the veranda. But growing up a white teenager in post-independence Zimbabwe poses some serious dilemmas.
When Mugabe-sponsored war veterans begin to appropriate land, relations between black and white, servant and master, Rhodies and British settlers, become ever more tense.
In this assured debut novel, Eames draws on her own interrupted childhood - her family moved to New Zealand when she was 17 - to paint an authentic portrait of a nation on the edge.
Like any number of memoirs of African childhood, the politics are overshadowed by the author's powerful attachment to the continent itself.
- 1 Publishing: Rude bits in disguise
- 2 Men in Black 3D (PG)
- 3 One is nipping to Tesco: Jubilant Jubilee royals as seen by Alison Jackson
- 4 French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy calls for West to intervene in Syria
- 5 Win a limited edition Tracey Emin monoprint
- 6 Illness forces Elton to cancel concerts
- 7 Jedward reach Eurovision final in Baku
- 8 Grace Dent on Television: The Exclusives, ITV2
- 9 Fury at Obama over filmmakers' access to Bin Laden kill team
- 10 Jacob Zuma's lawyer weeps in court case against artist
- 1 Mark Zuckerberg saved $111m by selling Facebook shares before stock slumped
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 Society: The only way is Finland
- 4 Catcalls, whistles, groping: the everyday picture of sexual harassment in London
- 5 Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?
- 6 Owen Jones: If socialists really did run the show, working people would benefit
- 7 'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'
- 8 African monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV
- 9 French in uproar over oral sex anti-smoking posters
- 10 Coke reveals its secret: It may need to carry a cancer warning
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
Can you imagine a career in teaching?
Be inspired to teach - let real teachers show you how rewarding the job can be.
Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos
48 Hours In: Faro
Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV
Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman
Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment
Pizza Pilgrims: Like mamma used to make


Comments