Zonipha is a rural girl newly inaugurated into the city as a domestic worker. Ambitious but righteous, she seeks to improve herself. Life disagrees and Zonipha finds herself ensnared by an abusive man, her employer. Unable to escape, she falls pregnant with a child who can never know his father, and following her unhappy decision will never know his mother. Fate intervenes at a tuckshop when Eugenia, who has longed for child, discovers the abandoned baby. In doing so, she pioneers a movement that seems to defy culture as she tries to encourage the idea of adoption. For Want of a Totem explores the meaning of family and what it means to be a parent. If a child is abandoned, who must raise her. This short but moving novel raised important questions about culture and its adaptability as it responds to contemporary and sometimes contentious issues.

For Want of a Totem

Wowed by the lights and prospects of city life, Loveness leaves her small mining town in search of a new life in Harare. She imagines herself falling for a hot-shot city man becoming his wife and spending her life in luxury while tending to her city children. The man she considers the love of her life is anything but a hot shot, and he is abusive and uncaring. To top all this off, he his HIV positive. Loveness is at a crossroads. She must consider her choices. Although, Waste Not Your Tears does not shy away from misfortune, it is also a novel of forgiveness and hope. Loveness is an unlikely heroine on a stage set during the crisis of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe. She lives, however, amongst us, and reading this sensitive and thoughtful novel provides insights into the challenges of making the wrong choices, but having the strength to move forward.

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Waste Not Your Tears

2018

African Books Collectives

Synopsis

Read on the Bambooks mobile app

Books by Ndlovu Vivienne

For Want of a Totem

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For Want of a Totem

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Waste Not Your Tears

2018

African Books Collectives

Synopsis

Read on the Bambooks mobile app

Books by Ndlovu Vivienne

For Want of a Totem

Related titles

For Want of a Totem

Reviews

0.0

0 Rating(s) / 0 review(s)

All reviews