Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2019
Shortlisted for the Zimbabwean International Women's Awards
Bukhosi has gone missing. His father, Abed, and his mother, Agnes, cling to the hope that he has run away, rather than been murdered by government thugs. Only the lodger seems to have any idea. Zamani has lived in the spare room for years now. Quiet, polite, well-read and well-heeled, he's almost part of the family - but almost isn't quite good enough for Zamani. Cajoling, coaxing and coercing Abed and Agnes into revealing their sometimes tender, often brutal life stories, Zamani aims to steep himself in borrowed family history, so that he can fully inherit and inhabit its uncertain future.
Publisher: Atlantic Books
ISBN: 9781786493163
Number of pages: 384
Weight: 655 g
Dimensions: 240 x 165 x 35 mm
Edition: Main
Tshuma has managed to not only sum up Zimbabwean history, but also all of African colonial history: from devastating colonialism to the bitter wars of independence to the euphoria of self-rule and the disillusionment of the present. It is an extraordinary achievement. - Helon Habila, Guardian
With luminous language, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma explores the treacherous terrain of colonization and decolonization, remembering and forgetting, and love and betrayal. The result is a gripping account of revolution and its aftermath, both for a country and for one man - Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sympathizer
Epic... A beautiful interweaving of personal and national history, we learn of successive generations burdened by sins of their fathers. - Panashe Chigumadzi, Guardian
Between laughter and tears and pride and anxiety and gratitude and straight-up awe, this book about Zimbabwe's unpast past and present couldn't have happened to us at a better moment. What a timely, resonant gift. The name is Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, don't say you were not told. - NoViolet Bulawayo, author of 'We Need New Names'
Are we on the cusp of a new age of African literature?... A courageous and probing work. - Los Angeles Review of Books
Easily the best debut I've read this year, Tshuma's novel is both hilarious and horrifying, filled with compassion, anger and despair. - Culturefly
A remarkable novel, using the intimacy of personal narratives to sculpt the history of Zimbabwe for the contemporary reader. - The Skinny
One of the most brilliant writers I know. - Garth Greenwell, author of 'What Belongs to You'
This stunning novel weaves together the personal and national history in a compelling narrative about the bloody birth of modern Zimbabwe. - Bookriot
Tshuma's ambitious debut tells the story of the country's bloody, complicated past. A captivating tale, driven by deceit, family lies and a single-minded goal. - Emerald Street
Tshuma's writing is smart, original, feisty, brutal and gorgeous. She hits the perfect note on every single page in this gripping novel about history, belonging and power. This is the work of an incredible, incredible talent. - Chika Unigwe, author of 'On Black Sisters' Street'
An enthralling novel that has it all: pathos, humour, and an insightful engagement with the history of Zimbabwe. With audacious style, Tshuma manages to step over the pitfalls that would swallow a lesser talent, and in so doing announces herself as a huge talent. - Brian Chikwava, author of 'Harare North'
House of Stone is that rare thing, a truly original work of art whose author's risk taking pays off on the page. Zamani is a complex, compelling and ambiguous narrator. Utterly stunning. - Tendai Huchu, author of 'The Hairdresser of Harare'
House of Stone is a novel of such maturity, such linguistic agility and scope that you'll scarcely believe it's a debut. Tshuma has set her formidable talents to no less a subject than the emergence of Zimbabwe from the darkness and tumult of colonialism. It's fierce and energetic right to the end, and whip smart to boot. - Ayana Mathis, author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie
Something is happening in African literature: The women are coming. [...] Novuyo Rosa Tshuma's "House of Stone," published in the United States in January, has already been highly praised in The Guardian for summing up "not only ... Zimbabwean history, but also all of African colonial history" - a large claim on behalf of any novel. - Salman Rushdie, The New York Times
Gukurahundi is not a word that is known in this country, at least not in the way that we know the words Holocaust or Genocide or Massacre. It is, however, a seminal event in the history of Zimbabwe under Robert... More
A history of a country and the people who live its story. Hurt, pain, fear and freedom.
It’s an impressively detailed and thought-provoking read for a debut novel. There’s a clear sense that the author has lived...
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Young Bukhosi has been captured by the police at the Mthwakazi rally, observed by the lodger of the household, Zamani. Where has he been taken? Will he ever come back?
Zamani, whilst Bukhosi is missing, is busy...
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