An Angel’s Demise by Sue Nyathi, published by Pan McMillan South Africa, is an epic saga that explores a contested legacy and the heartrending destiny of a Zimbabwean family. Rich in detail, Nyathi’s novel offers an intimate look at how the atrocities of the 15-year-long Rhodesian Bush War to end the white-minority rule impacted both white and black citizens of that beautiful country.
Set against the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe just after the Geneva Conference in 1977, the story begins with the birth of Angel on a dairy farm in the district of Somabhula in Southern Rhodesia. When Angel’s young parents join the liberation struggle, she is left in the care of her grandmothers, who have been in service to the dairy farm’s owners, the Williams family, for generations.
We follow Angel’s coming of age on the farm as the country undergoes political change, and she faces her own challenges to find out who she is and where she belongs. While the war rages on, the Williams family is not only confronted by issues from the past but is also forced to face the complications of the changing circumstances of the present.
Nyathi successfully creates a colourful and convincing cast of endearing characters that accompanies the reader on an intimate journey to the heart of Zimbabwe’s harrowing history, giving us a first-person tour of the atrocities committed in that country through several perspectives.
It is admittedly not an easy read: the bloody massacres and the violent tribal battles are hair-raising, to say the least, while reading of the far-reaching and devastating impacts of power-hungry leaders on what was once regarded as the ‘Jewel of Africa’ is enough to make your blood boil. The novel also does not spare the reader the racial and tribal conflict, gender-based violence, and the catastrophic effects on ordinary people that inevitably followed.
Amidst all this, An Angel’s Demise shows how, despite differing beliefs and backgrounds, people from both sides of this infamous war related to each other and could recognise parts of themselves in one another.
Ultimately, Angel’s story of self-discovery remains at the core of this novel as she searches for her identity and struggles for her personal independence. Beyond the realities of war (which Nyathi rightfully recounts in much detail), this contemporary African saga includes all the ingredients of a winning recipe – rags to riches, romance, heartache, friendship, love, and heroism, all baked into an authentic, delicious, unputdownable cake.
Comentários