Synopsis

The novel is about the guerrilla war for the independence of Zimbabwe as it affected Zambia, a neighbouring state. I tried to make it a human story with the war as a background to issues like corruption, racial attitudes, government abuse of power etc. Many of the instances related actually happened. The main characters are a mixed-race couple, Harry Moss, white and Liz his partner, who have to deal with the events stirred up by the conflict.
Parallel is an American reporter, Jesse Wellman, sent to Zambia to report events for his newspaper. Soon his initial idealism, as a black American dissatisfied with the extravagance and excesses in America, is thwarted by the realisation that he has little in common with Africans. Initially, he witnesses the forced removal of a dissident, Alec Jere, who is severely beaten after he is taken off the flight. Soon he is arrested and beaten for taking a photo.
When he starts investigating human rights abuses, threats are made against him; in one instance, wheel nuts are loosened and his car careers off the road. His attempts to seek help from his embassy proved fruitless but an attempt is made to recruit him as a spy. Soon he is arrested; Harry Moss is brought into the equation to bribe the police for Wellman's release.
Soon Moss has to decide whether to leave Zambia. He wants Liz to accompany him to the UK but her brother, Benson, tries to disssuade her by warning her she will be dependent on the white man in a very different culture.

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Sessions Book Trust (York)
  The Ebor Press
  York England
• ISBN: 1850723265