An Elegy for Easterly

Author(s): Petina Gappah

Fiction.

Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, this is an unforgettable collection of powerful stories by a stunning young voice from Zimbabwe. A woman in a township is surrounded by dusty children but longs for a baby of her own; an old man finds that his job making coffins at No Matter Funeral Parlour brings unexpected riches; a politician's widow stands quietly by at her husband's funeral as 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 - a country expected to have only four presidents in a hundred years. In this spirited debut, Gappah evokes the resilience and inventiveness of the people who struggle to live under Robert Mugabe's regime whilst also battling issues common to all people everywhere: failed promises, unfulfilled dreams, and the yearning for something to anchor them to life.


Product Information

An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah is an unforgettable collection of stories set in Zimbabwe, andthe winner of the Guardian First Book Award.

Winner of Guardian First Book Award 2009. Shortlisted for Orwell Prize 2010.

Petina Gappah is a Zimbabwean writer with law degrees from Cambridge, Graz University and the University of Zimbabwe. Her short fiction and essays have been published in eight countries. She lives with her son Kush in Geneva, where she works as counsel in an international organisation that provides legal aid on international trade law to developing countries. She is currently completing The Book of Memory, her first novel.

General Fields

  • : 9780571246946
  • : Faber Faber
  • : Faber Faber
  • : December 2009
  • : United Kingdom
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Petina Gappah
  • : Paperback
  • : Main
  • : 823.92
  • : 288