There are also a lot of genres mashed into the tale. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, all with African names that gets stuck in your throat when you try to pronounce it. The story follows these 3 women, their daughters and grandchildren and how their lives run parallel, crosses over and finally collides. When he leaves her pregnant and destitute, she starts crying, never to stop for many decades. During her time training to be an Afronaut with the Zambia space program she meets her sweetheart. Martha is the only native Zambian of the 3 women. No matter how many times she cuts it, the next day its back.Īgnes is a young English rose, an upcoming tennis star but when she slowly goes blind her dreams of glory fades with her. Silliba originates from Italy and was born with massive amount of hair. The story itself is a multi-generational tale starting with 3 women, all so vastly different. I am still not sure if it was deliberately done to get the world’s attention on Zambia or if they truly believed in the program. The below link is an interview BBC had with Edward Nkolose. A revolutionary, Edward Nkolose headed up the Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy. I travelled to Zambia about 5 years ago and read up about its history but nowhere was it stated that Zambia had its own space program in the 1960’s. I really enjoyed some of the true historic events the author weaved into the story. As the generations pass, their lives – their triumphs, errors, losses and hopes – form a symphony about what it means to be human.įrom a woman covered with hair and another plagued with endless tears, to forbidden love affairs and fiery political ones, to homegrown technological marvels like Afronauts, microdrones and viral vaccines – this novel sweeps over the years and the globe.īritish colonialism vs African revolutionaries, 3rd world poverty vs high tech drones, beautiful powerful writing vs meaningless ramblings. This sets off a cycle of unwitting retribution between three Zambian families (black, white, brown) as they collide and converge over the course of the century, into the present and beyond.

Clark, foggy with fever, makes a mistake that entangles the fates of an Italian hotelier and an African busboy. In 1904, in a smoky room at the hotel across the river, an Old Drifter named Percy M. Here begins the story of a small African nation, told by a swarm-like chorus that calls itself man’s greatest nemesis.

On the banks of the Zambezi River, a few miles from the majestic Victoria Falls, there was once a colonial settlement called The Old Drift. A Zambian debut novel that follows three generations of three families, telling the story of a nation, and of the grand sweep of time

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell