House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe - Softcover

Lamb, Christina

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007219407 ISBN 13: 9780007219407

Publisher: HarperPress, 2006

Synopsis

A powerful and intensely human insight into the civil war in Zimbabwe, focusing on a white farmer and his maid who find themselves on opposing sides.

One bright morning Nigel Hough, one of the few remaining white farmers in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, received the news he was dreading – a crowd were at the gate demanding he surrender his home and land. To his horror, his family’s much-loved nanny Aqui was at the head of the violent mob that then stole his homestead and imprisoned him in an outhouse

By tracing the intertwined lives of Nigel and Aqui – rich and poor, white and black, master and maid – through intimate and moving interviews, Christina Lamb captures not just the source of a terrible conflict, but also her own conviction that there is still hope for one of Africa’s most beautiful countries.

About this title

Review:

‘Lamb is a careful observer, and her anguished refrain is the terrible schizophrenia of people who fiercely love their land but do nothing to save it...the strength is in the storytelling...it is a good piece of reportage...her book deserves to be read.’ Daily Telegraph

‘Lamb’s achievement is to present the modern story of Zimbabwe through convincing portraits from across the racial divide. It takes great insight and considerable imaginative powers to describe the unfolding story from both sides, but this she manages with complete conviction...consummate storyteller that she is, Lamb finds some ray of hope for her protagonists.’ Sunday Times

‘Riveting...Lamb’s book tells a disaster story on a massive scale.’ Daily Mail

‘Compelling...Lamb has a remarkable pair of stories to tell, and does so extremely well.’ Spectator

Synopsis:

A powerful and intensely human insight into the civil war in Zimbabwe, focusing on a white farmer and his maid who find themselves on opposing sides. A remarkable tale of envy, betrayal and love that provides a fascinating perspective on the civil war in Zimbabwe, by one of the few correspondents to have gained recent access to the country. In spite of being declared an enemy of the state by Mugabe's regime, Christina Lamb has made repeated trips to Zimbabwe and has unearthed the remarkable story of Nigel Hough, a privileged white farmer who envisaged living out the rest of his days on his farm with his family and their black maid, Akwe. In 2000, however, Robert Mugabe launched his controversial land reform programme, sending war veterans to seize white farms using whatever violence necessary, while the police turned a blind eye. Although Nigel Hough and his family were determined to remain on the land they loved, their farm was violently seized by veterans, with Akwe at their head. Horrified by both the violence and the betrayal implicit in Akwe's role in the violent takeover, Christina Lamb returned to Zimbabwe years later to find the Houghs, now crammed into three small rooms, reunited with Akwe in congenial, if straightened, circumstances. Akwe, it transpired, had been pretending to lead the war veterans in order to protect the Hough family from the worst excesses of violence. "The farmer and his maid" is more than just an account of the last few tumultuous years of Zimbabwe's unhappy history. By tracing the intertwining lives of the Nigel and Akwe - rich and poor, white and black, master and maid - Christina Lamb not only presents both sides of the Zimbabwean dilemma, but captures in achingly intimate terms her own uplifting conviction that, although savaged by civil war, there is still hope for one of Africa's most beautiful countries.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperPress
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0007219407
• ISBN 13: 9780007219407
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320