A woman in a township in Zimbabwe is surrounded by throngs of
dusty children but longs for a baby of her own; an old man finds
that his new job making coffins at No Matter Funeral Parlor brings
unexpected riches; a politician's widow stands quietly by at her
husband's funeral, watching his colleagues bury an empty casket.
Petina Gappah's characters may have ordinary hopes and dreams, but
they are living in a world where a loaf of bread costs half a
million dollars, where wives can't trust even their husbands for
fear of AIDS, and where people know exactly what will be printed in
the one and only daily newspaper because the news is always, always
good.
In her spirited debut collection, the Zimbabwean writer Petina
Gappah brings us the resilience and inventiveness of the people who
struggle to live under Robert Mugabe's regime. She takes us across
the city of Harare, from the townships beset by power cuts to the
manicured lawns of privilege and corruption, where wealthy husbands
keep their first wives in the "big houses" while their unofficial
second wives wait in the "small houses," hoping for a
promotion.
Despite their circumstances, the characters in "An Elegy for
Easterly "are more than victims--they are all too human, with as
much capacity to inflict pain as to endure it. They struggle with
the larger issues common to all people everywhere: failed promises,
unfulfilled dreams, and the yearning for something to anchor them
to life.
General
Imprint: |
Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
June 2010 |
First published: |
June 2010 |
Authors: |
Petina Gappah
|
Dimensions: |
204 x 128 x 16mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
224 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-86547-930-2 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
Special features >
Short stories
|
LSN: |
0-86547-930-5 |
Barcode: |
9780865479302 |
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