The Stone Virgins

In 1980, after decades of guerrilla warfare against colonial rule, Rhodesia earned its hard-won independence from Britain. Less than two years later, Robert Mugabe's rise to power in the new Zimbabwe brought an explosion of violence across the land that reverberates to this day. In The Stone Virgins, author Yvonne Vera examines the dissident movement - a subject long taboo among her countrymen - from the perspective of two sisters living in a small township outside of Bulawayo. She explores their quest for dignity and a centered existence against a backdrop of appalling brutality; the rival tension between township and city life; and the twin instincts of survival and love that motivate them in the face of mankind's capacity for terror, beauty, and sacrifice. Weaving historical fact into a story of grand passions and striking endurance, Vera has fashioned a portrait of life before and after the liberation that is both radiant and haunting. The result is a powerful and provocative testament to the resilience of the Zimbabwean people that will not soon be forgotten.