Kirjahaku

In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, there is a tragedy in the house next door to Lindiwe Bishop -- her neighbor has been burned alive. The victim's stepson, Ian McKenzie, is the prime suspect but is soon released. Lindiwe can't hide her fascination with this young, boisterous and mysterious white man, and they soon forge an unlikely closeness even as the country starts to deteriorate. Years after circumstances split them apart, Ian returns to a much-changed Zimbabwe to see Lindiwe, now a sophisticated, impassioned young woman, and discovers a devastating secret that will alter both of their futures, and draw them closer together even as the world seems bent on keeping them apart. The Boy Next Door is a moving and powerful debut about two people finding themselves and each other in a time of national upheaval.

*Winner of the Orange Award for New Writers*'Entertaining, ambitious and packed with news from elsewhere, leavened by the precious optimism of youth. Don't miss it.' IndependentA powerful love story set in post-independence Zimbabwe as it slides towards chaos.'Two days after I turned fourteen the son of our neighbour set his stepmother alight.'Or so Lindiwe Bishop believes, though eighteen months later the charges against Ian McKenzie are dropped and he returns home, full of charm and swagger. Intrigued, Lindiwe strikes up a covert friendship with the mysterious white boy next door. As a bond grows between them, they cannot foresee how severely it will be tested in the years ahead.Vividly evoking Zimbabwe's slide from independence into chaos, THE BOY NEXT DOOR tells an engrossing tale about what it means to witness, change, love and remain whole when all around you is falling apart.'An exuberant, tender and often humorous love story ... Irene Sabatini is a born writer, and she has told a completely engrossing story' Daily Mail

This is the story of a young boy's adventures as he takes it upon himself to solve the mystery of an 'evil' old neighbour in Geneva, and a missing auntie in Zimbabwe. Charming, funny and resonant, this is a novel about how one boy comes to understand what conflict can do to a person, a family, a whole country - and what it means to fight for peace.

How do you imagine the future when your story traps you in the past? Harare, 2000. Gabrielle is a newly-qualified lawyer, fighting for justice for a young girl. Ben is an urbane and charismatic junior diplomat, attached to Harare with the American embassy. With high-level pressure on Gabrielle to drop her case, and Robert Mugabe’s youth wing terrorising his political opponents as he tightens his grip on power, they begin a tentative love affair. But when they fall victim to a shocking attack, their lives splinter across continents and their stories diverge, forcing Gabrielle on a painful journey towards self-realisation. Irene Sabatini, Winner of the 2010 Orange Award for New Writers, navigates Zimbabwe’s unfolding political crises, showing how the dehumanising effects of political violence can shape and remake a life. An Act of Defiance is a sweeping political drama about a young woman’s fight for love and agency in troubled times.

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, våkner tenåringsjenta Lindiwe av brann i nabohuset. Sytten år gamle Ian McKenzie arresteres, mistenkt for en grusom forbrytelse. Han skal ha startet brannen som forårsaker stemorens død. Et år etter er Ian tilbake, anklagene er frafalt. Fargede Lindiwe fascineres av hvite Ian, og det oppstår nærhet, vennskap og kjærlighet mellom ungdommene som har vokst opp på hver sin side av gjerdet. Vi følger deres dramatiske forhold i en tid med store politiske omveltninger og mye uro i Zimbabwe."Svært sterkt, spennende og ubehagelig."Svein Johs Ottesen, Aftenposten