Chinongwa
My only dream that’s ever come true, and one I relish with a vengeance, is being able to whistle like a man. I was told a woman fit to be married should not whistle. I don’t want to be married so the more they point at me, the louder I whistle. My load is still heavy on my head, but my heart is light, for I know, like the sun, that I shall rise every morning. Be it cloudy, cold or wet, I shall not fail to rise. And I shall whistle as loudly as I like. To me, it is the sound of freedom.
In the village where Chinongwa lives, her family, displaced from their lands, are very poor. One desperate solution to hunger is to trade young daughters into marriage. At first, to their shame, her father’s and aunt’s attempts to marry off their youngest child fail. No one is interested in this small, thin girl. Eventually, a childless woman, Amai Chitsva, offers Chinongwa as a second wife to her own husband who is old enough to be the girl’s grandfather. Chinongwa is forced to grow up very fast and rely on her survival instincts. She does her best to do what is expected of her and become a good wife and mother, but being very young, very alone, and a girl, the odds are stacked against her. Eventually, after spending her whole life doing the bidding of others, all Chinongwa wants is her independence. But how can one gain such a thing as a woman? Will she ever truly be free?
JULY 2023 | ISBN 9781925950816 | Paperback | 248 pages | 228 x 152 mm
My only dream that’s ever come true, and one I relish with a vengeance, is being able to whistle like a man. I was told a woman fit to be married should not whistle. I don’t want to be married so the more they point at me, the louder I whistle. My load is still heavy on my head, but my heart is light, for I know, like the sun, that I shall rise every morning. Be it cloudy, cold or wet, I shall not fail to rise. And I shall whistle as loudly as I like. To me, it is the sound of freedom.
In the village where Chinongwa lives, her family, displaced from their lands, are very poor. One desperate solution to hunger is to trade young daughters into marriage. At first, to their shame, her father’s and aunt’s attempts to marry off their youngest child fail. No one is interested in this small, thin girl. Eventually, a childless woman, Amai Chitsva, offers Chinongwa as a second wife to her own husband who is old enough to be the girl’s grandfather. Chinongwa is forced to grow up very fast and rely on her survival instincts. She does her best to do what is expected of her and become a good wife and mother, but being very young, very alone, and a girl, the odds are stacked against her. Eventually, after spending her whole life doing the bidding of others, all Chinongwa wants is her independence. But how can one gain such a thing as a woman? Will she ever truly be free?
JULY 2023 | ISBN 9781925950816 | Paperback | 248 pages | 228 x 152 mm
My only dream that’s ever come true, and one I relish with a vengeance, is being able to whistle like a man. I was told a woman fit to be married should not whistle. I don’t want to be married so the more they point at me, the louder I whistle. My load is still heavy on my head, but my heart is light, for I know, like the sun, that I shall rise every morning. Be it cloudy, cold or wet, I shall not fail to rise. And I shall whistle as loudly as I like. To me, it is the sound of freedom.
In the village where Chinongwa lives, her family, displaced from their lands, are very poor. One desperate solution to hunger is to trade young daughters into marriage. At first, to their shame, her father’s and aunt’s attempts to marry off their youngest child fail. No one is interested in this small, thin girl. Eventually, a childless woman, Amai Chitsva, offers Chinongwa as a second wife to her own husband who is old enough to be the girl’s grandfather. Chinongwa is forced to grow up very fast and rely on her survival instincts. She does her best to do what is expected of her and become a good wife and mother, but being very young, very alone, and a girl, the odds are stacked against her. Eventually, after spending her whole life doing the bidding of others, all Chinongwa wants is her independence. But how can one gain such a thing as a woman? Will she ever truly be free?
JULY 2023 | ISBN 9781925950816 | Paperback | 248 pages | 228 x 152 mm
Reviews
Fiction Pick of the Week in the Nine Media (The Age/SMH). Read online here.
Read more about Lucy Mushita and her book Chinongwa via Broad Agenda. Read online here.
Can there ever be any justification for continuing the practice of child-marriage? I solemnly ask with a heavy heart. When guardians of children turn into predators devouring their young, what future is there for humanity? Thanks to the author for this touching, timeless read.
Read the full review here.
— Woman Zone
Chinongwa is undeniably a gripping story that evokes a great deal of sympathy for its protagonist.
Subscribers can read the full review here.
— News24.com
The strength of Mushita’s book is that it highlights the effects of child marriages, which to this day remains prevalent not only in Zimbabwe but sub-Saharan Africa. Read the full review here.
— ZimboJam
Chinongwa is the debut novel of Zimbabwean author Lucy Mushita. It is a powerful reminder that sentimentalising traditional lifestyles risks obscuring the very real harm done in patriarchal societies in Africa and elsewhere. Read the full review here.
— Lisa Hill, ANZ LitLovers
Where to start with this complex, unusual and gorgeously written novel that manages to convey the horrors of child marriage, of colonialism, and of patriarchal cultures, without eulogising or demonising the characters involved? It’s quite a feat, and it made this book a deeply involving read.It makes compelling reading. Read more
— Whispering Gums
There is a lot of power to the opening lines of books. The opening line to Chinongwa reads, ‘Chinongwa Murehwa was nine, but her age was not vital. Just her virginity.’ I am interested to know how you came to that as an opening sentence for the novel.
Read the interview with Lucy Mushita in the Johannesburg Review of Books here.