Novel
Waiting for the Rain
Charles Mungoshi · 1975
Synopsis
In the Manyene reserve in Rhodesia, three generations of the Mandengu family live through the three days before the departure of Lucifer, the second son, who is to continue his studies abroad under the patronage of a white man. His father, Tongoona, has almost exhausted the family's resources to have him educated and wants, against custom, to entrust him with the headship of the family rather than the eldest, Garabha, the musician. The old man, a drum maker, keeps the memory of the ancestors; Betty, the eldest daughter, bears the weight of a curse, and the diviner Matandangoma is consulted.
Context
Heinemann published it in London in 1975 in its series of African writers, the same year as a novel by the author in Shona, and both were honoured by PEN. The narrative covers three days and passes from one family member to another. It was reissued in Harare in 1981 by a Zimbabwean publisher, and a new edition appeared in 2023, presenting it as a chronicle of family ties undone under colonisation, in the Zimbabwe of the sixties.
Who it is for
In English, one hundred and eighty pages, in several voices. It is better to know that the name Lucifer was not chosen at random.
Prizes and reception
PEN International prize on its publication; in 1986, Florence Stratton saw in it the image of Shona society fractured by colonisation.
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