Footprints In The Mists Of Time

By: Mahachi-Harper, Spiwe N.

"This is going to be an important novel for Zimbabwean literature. Zimbabwean fiction rarely puts the migrant and his offspring at the centre of the narrative. But here is a novel written from their point of view."- Memory Chirere, The Herald

"The novel, which is essentially about labour migrations in Southern Africa, can be read through multiple lenses. There is an extended debate, often couched in broader economic, political and social terms, on the causes and effects of migration on the receiving and sending countries. Spiwe Mahachi-Harper contributes to this debate in novel form- Kupukile Mlambo, Ph.D. (Econ) Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Music & Arts Awards (ZIMAA) 2013 Book of the Year Longlist, National Arts Merits Awards (NAMA) 2014 Most Outstanding Fiction Book Longlist

A Zimbabwean story like no other. A story of migration and belonging and heritage, spanning 4 generations that lived through the colonisation of central and southern Africa by Britain. The story of the mostly young men who left what is now Zambia and Malawi to work in the mines and on the farms of what is now Zimbabwe, and whose descendants still bear the label Vabvakure, Those Who Come From Afar. A story of Africans as the Other, the economic migrant in another African nation. The story of Mavhuto, born to see the emergence of independent Zimbabwe, who must look back before he can look forward. Back to Dhairesi, his mother, now broken by a life-long quest to belong, his grandfather Masauso, who was born in the community of migrant mineworkers, and his great-grandfather, Bhaureni, who walked those miles from Nuhono Village in Nyasaland, now Malawi. The footprints are still there, in the mists of time. Never before has the narrative of Those Who Come From Afar been brought to the fore in Zimbabwean literature. First published in 2013, Footprints In the Mists Of Time also holds the distinction of being the longest novel by a Zimbabwean.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Spiwe N. Mahachi-Harper (ZIMAA Awards 2013 Writer of the Year) trained as a teacher at Hillside Teacher's College in Zimbabwe. She has a Bachelor of Education degree (University of Zimbabwe) and a Diploma in French Culture and Civilisation (University of Poitiers, France). She is the author of Trials and Tribulations, Echoes in the Shadows, and a collection of short-stories, Tales From The Kombi: - The Shattered Pattern Of Life. Her short story The Sacrificial Lamb won second prize in the MacMillan-Boleswa Publishers Regional Competition in 1994. Echoes in the Shadows was nominated for the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) in Zimbabwe in 2005. She divides her time between Zimbabwe and the UK.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1908690259
• ISBN13: 9781908690258
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Fairfield Press of Middlesbrough
• Length: 388 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.5"