Written By: Nicole Parker-Jones—In her accomplished award winning debut book of short stories, An Elegy For Easterly, Zimbabwean author and international trade lawyer, Petina Gappah, casts her compassionate eye on a diverse array of characters living, grieving, loving—and fighting to survive—under Robert Mugabe's regime.
In The Heart of the Golden Triangle, Petina narrates from the perspective of a second person, the story of a wealthy woman's tormented marriage: you worry because you have not found condoms in his pockets, the narrator muses of her husband's behavior, but in the cushioned comfort of your four-by-four, you don't feel a thing. Meanwhile, in The Cracked, Pink Lips Of Rosie's Bridegroom, Petina tells the story of a village pondering a doomed marriage in which the groom, who has a history of buried girlfriends, is clearly marked as being afflicted by the big disease with the little name: AIDS. And in Something Nice From London, Petina narrates the tale of a family waiting at the airport for the bi-weekly flight from London, hoping that either their relatives living in the UK will themselves return or send back money or gifts for their families.
With an ability to dissect with real poignancy the lives of people caught up in situations over which they have no control, as they deal with spiralling inflation, power cuts and financial hardships under Robert Mugabe's regime, it is no surprise that Petina is considered "the voice of Zimbabwe."
Visit Petina's official website, www.petinagappah.com, for more information.
(Photo Credits: Book Cover Art)
