Aminatta Forna, The Guardian
Mary Fitzgerald, New Statesman, 26 March 2009.
Esquire
The Times, Kate Saunders
Book Description
...a perfectly original and true narrative voice. ..Full of surprises and real fire-in-the-belly creativity. A major accomplishment.
Tod Wodicka author of All Shall be Well...
The Times
Sunday Times
Dazed and Confused
The Guardian
Independent on Sunday
Product Description
When he lands in Harare North, our unnamed protagonist carries nothing but a cardboard suitcase full of memories and an email address for his childhood friend, Shingi.Finessing his way through immigration, he spends a few restless weeks as the very unwelcome guest in his cousin's home before tracking down Shingi in a Brixton squat.
In this astonishing, revelatory original debut, Caine Prize winner Brian Chikwava tackles head-on the realities of life as a refugee.This is the story of a stranger in a strange land - one of the thousands of illegal Zimbabwean immigrants seeking a better life in England - with a past he is determined to hide.From the first line the language fizzes with energy, humour and not a little menace.As he struggles to make his life in London (the 'Harare North' of the title) and battles with the weight of what he has left behind in a strife-torn Zimbabwe, every expectation and preconception (both his and ours) is turned on its head.The inhabitants of the squat function at various levels of desperation: Shingi struggles to find meaningful work and to meet the demands of his family back home; Tsitsi makes a living renting out her baby to women defrauding Social Services; Alex claims to have an important job in Croydon.
Fearlessly political, laugh-out-loud funny and with an anti-hero whose voice is impossible to forget, Chikwava's novel is an arresting account of London as it is experienced by the Africa's dispossessed.
