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Laddar... Little Stonesav Elizabeth Kuiper
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A coming-of-age story set in Zimbabwe during a time of political turmoil by a talented new author. Hannah lives in Zimbabwe during the reign of Robert Mugabe: it's a country of petrol queues and power cuts, and police with loaded rifles who patrol the city streets. By all accounts, Hannah is lucky. She can afford to go to school, has never had to skip a meal, and lives in a big house with her mum and their African housekeeper, Gogo. Hannah is wealthy, she is healthy, and she is white. But there are some things money can't buy. Money can't stop your divorced parents from fighting. Money can't buy back your grandparents' farm. Money can't always keep you safe. Her luck in life has kept her sheltered for a long time, but things are beginning to change. As she is forced to navigate the increased tension between her warring parents, the differences between herself and her peers, and her relationship with Gogo, Hannah starts questioning much of what she previously thought to be true. Inga biblioteksbeskrivningar kunde hittas. |
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Google Books — Laddar... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)968.91051History and Geography Africa South Africa and southern Africa Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi Zimbabwe, MostlyKlassifikation enligt LCBetygMedelbetyg:
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It is the story of Hannah Reynolds, who is growing up in a single-parent family in Zimbabwe just as the country is falling apart. Her coming-of-age coincides with the collapse of the economy; hyperinflation*; erratic power and water supply; shortages of basics like petrol and wheat; and the 'confiscation' of white-owned farms by the 'Warvets'. Hannah is only ten, so she doesn't always understand what's going on, although she's skilled at bypassing the adults' attempts to shelter her from the situation:
It's when she finally expresses her anxiety that her grandparents might give their farm away to another family, that her mother explains, that the War Vets were not an extended family. They were a large group of people called the 'War Veterans' who mobilised to take back what they saw as their land.
Her mother's reassurances turn out to be hollow, however, and the day comes when Nana and Grandpa are given 24 hours notice to get out, and they come to live with Hannah and her mother**. Both of them are at a loose end in an urban environment but have difficulty finding work, Grandpa filling his idle hours getting underfoot with unwanted household repairs, and Nana dismayed that she doesn't have the IT skills to get any kind of office work.
But Hannah's family is wealthy by anyone's standards. She has a pool, and a trampoline, and she goes to an expensive school where her best friend is Diana Chigumba. Her father is wealthier still, because he drives a BMW while her mother gets by with an ageing Mazda. Mum, in this book, is a bit idealised, while Father turns out to be a nasty piece of work, but Hannah still loves him, despite his insistence on access visits being more about maintaining control of his ex-wife. (And that, I think, is authentic. It's a dreadful thing for children to have to choose between parents, because children—in my experience as a teacher comforting many of them in separated families— usually do love both parents, no matter how awful one of them might be).
The tension ramps up as thuggery and violence come to Hannah's home, and though at her age she doesn't understand what has happened, the reader does:
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/06/17/little-stones-by-elizabeth-kuiper/ ( )