This Mournable Body

Shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2020.

In this tense and psychologically charged novel, Tsitsi Dangarembga channels the hope and potential of one young girl and a fledgling nation to lead us on a journey to discover where lives go after hope has departed. 

Here we meet Tambudzai, living in a run-down youth hostel in downtown Harare and anxious about her prospects after leaving a stagnant job. At every turn in her attempt to make a life for herself, she is faced with a fresh humiliation, until the painful contrast between the future she imagined and her daily reality ultimately drives her to a breaking point.

'As natural as the grass grows.' Chinua Achebe

'Dangarembga is a wonderful creator of character.' Doris Lessing

'A Masterpiece.' New York Times

'Searing and enlightening.' Sefi Atta, author of Everything Good Will Come