The Mad reviewed in The Financial Gazette

  'We are all the richer for the penetrative insights and experiences this important novel can give us.'

Read the full review by Diana Rodrigues on p31 of The Financial Gazette of 9 October 2025: (https://epaper.fingaz.co.zw/subscriber/read-mac-publication/205#Thursday%209%20October%202025/31).

Bryony Rheam's All Come to Dust reviewed in The Financial Gazette

from:  https://www.fingaz.co.zw/murder-mystery-in-bulawayo/

Reviewed by Diana Rodrigues

FORTY percent of the novels in my book club belong to the crime fiction genre, and while it would be beyond surprising to learn that any of the learned ladies I meet every month had ever committed a felony, there’s no doubt that there is always some dignified jostling to take home the latest murder mystery novel by crime writer Ann Cleeves. Fictional character Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope, a cranky, overweight, middle-aged spinster, was supposed to appear in a standalone novel by Cleeves, but the unglamorous yet competent detective was so appealing, that she featured in a long-running TV series.

 

Crime fiction is globally one of the biggest selling literary genres, and this bodes well for Bryony Rheam’s latest novel, All Come to Dust. In this gripping whodunnit, we can confront our darkest fears from the safety of an armchair, puzzle about several dark and complex characters and their unspeakable activities, and sift through the clues and red herrings in a murder mystery set in the suburbs of Bulawayo. 

Rheam writes with wit and humour, but at times the plot becomes so dark as to make the reader distinctly uncomfortable. A shining light amidst the uncertainty is the character of Detective Chief Inspector Edmund Dube. Although policing in Zimbabwe didn’t conform to the expectations and images he had imagined as a school boy, he remains dedicated to his career, and to ‘keeping the people of Bulawayo safe and sound’. Most of his time, however, is taken up by the paper work of filling in charge sheets relating to ‘speeding offences or drunken driving’. All this changes when DCI Edmund Dube is called to reception, where the duty officer informs him that ‘an ikhiwa woman …. I mean a white lady’, had been stabbed to death in her bed in nearby Suburbs. 

From here the narrative takes off at breakneck speed. DCI Dube, in search of transport to the crime scene, commandeers an elderly fawn-coloured Renault 4 from Craig Martin, a shabby forty-something individual with a mullet hair style. Reluctantly Craig drives the inspector to a house in Suburbs, where business woman Marcia Pullman lies dead on her bed, a silver paper knife sticking out of her chest. 

It’s difficult to respect Marcia Pullman, even in death, as we learn early on that she was snobbish and a bully, both at home and at work. Having a keen eye for antiques, bought cheaply from impoverished elderly people, and exported to South Africa to be sold at a vast profit, she had little regard for the welfare of others. It would seem that she was unpopular and probably unloved, as, even her husband seemed unmoved by her demise. 

A raft of interesting characters are introduced, many possibly having a motive to murder Marcia, and there are many red herrings designed to keep the reader guessing. Unexpectedly, Craig Martin develops a friendship with DCI Dube. Providing transport for the detective in his trusty R4, he also agrees to shadow suspects engaged in nefarious activities in the sanitary lane, where he narrowly escapes death. 

DCI Dube is very much a loner, and gets little support from his fellow officers, who seem on occasion to treat him as a joke. This doesn’t deter him from his duty, and he vows to discover Marcia’s killer, although his superior takes him off the case twice. After interviewing everyone who has been in contact with Marcia, he lies sleepless in bed, going over every possibility and considering every suspect. Feeling neglected, Dube’s wife Mary spends most of her waking hours leaning over the fence and chatting to neighbours. 

The plot takes many twist and turns, but our sympathy is always with DCI Dube, and we’re confident he’ll catch his man. Or will it be a woman? 

All Come to Dust is a clever mystery novel, filled with surprise reveals and unexpected events, none more surprising than the final denouement. There is more than a hint in Rheam’s style of Agatha Christie, best known for her detective novels, and said to be the world’s best-selling author of all time. In 2015, Bryony Rheam won an international competition based on writing a chapter of a novel in the style of Agatha Christie. The prize included a grand dinner party at Agatha’s house in Torquay, Devon, hosted by the late author’s grandson, Matthew Pritchard. 

A volume of short stories by Bryony Rheam is soon to be published by amaBooks Publishers and Parthian Books, and there is much to look forward to from this prolific author. 

The best detective novels are page turners, with the reader drawn into a relationship with all the characters. In All Come to Dust, DCI Edmund Dube, for all his failings, is someone we admire and feel close to. If Rheam continues the series, and allows him to pursue his career, DCI Dube could become one of crime fiction’s detective greats.

'Lusaka Punk', the 2015 Caine Prize anthology, reviewed in Harare News

Brian Chikwava - previous Caine Prize winner

Every year local book lovers look forward to ’amaBooks Publishers latest anthology of short stories based on the Caine Prize for African writing. This year, the volume is named Lusaka Punk, after Zambian-born Efemia Chela’s story based on ‘teenage angst’ and a gap year spent in the internet cafés and night clubs of Lusaka. In all, there are 17 short stories, including the five short-listed authors, and 12 other writers who took part in this year’s workshop in Ghana.

The Caine Prize for African Literature was established in 1999 by Baroness Nicholson, in memory of her husband, Sir Michael Caine. Sir Michael, a larger than life character, was an executive of Booker PLC, a group of companies involved in food distribution and agribusiness. It was his love books and reading that lead him in 1968 to create the Booker Prize for fiction, soon to become Britain’s most prestigious literary award.

Thanks to Baroness Nicholson, the Caine Prize for African writing provides an opportunity for writers linked to the vast continent of Africa to have their voices heard, to give shape and form to their creativity and to delight readers everywhere with extraordinary and diverse narratives. At the Zimbabwe International Book Fair in the Harare Gardens in 2000, the first ever winner of the award was announced as Leila Aboulela, for her story ‘The Museum’. Born in Egypt and brought up in Khartoum, Aboulela shows how a young Muslim student studying in Aberdeen adjusts successfully to culture, society and life in a cold climate.

In 2004, Zimbabwe hit the headlines again, when Bulawayo-born Brian Chikwava won the £10,000 prize with his story, ‘Seventh Street Alchemy’. Set in Harare’s once notorious Avenues, Fiso, an ageing prostitute, copes with the daily uneven fight for survival. Her struggles with bureaucracy and inability to obtain either a birth certificate or a passport will seem all too familiar to many readers.

A few years later, in 2011, NoViolet Bulawayo’s ‘Hitting Budapest’, chronicling the emotive, sometimes tragic, escapades of a gang of six underprivileged children, won the Caine Prize. While their mothers are busy with ‘hair and talk’ and the men play draughts under the jacaranda trees, the children raid gardens in wealthy suburbs, in search of adventure, and for guavas, to ward off hunger pains.

In 2012, Zimbabwean Melissa Myambo’s short story, ‘La Salle de Depart’, was shortlisted as a possible winner, but Nigerian writer Rotimi Babatunde wowed the judges with Bombay’s Republic, a darkly humorous narrative about Nigerian soldiers fighting in Burma during the second world war. Kenyan writer Okwiri Oduor won the prize in 2014, with ‘My Father’s Head’, a surreal story about a young woman coming to terms with her father’s death.

This year the panel of judges, headed by South African writer Zoe Wicomb, were presented with 153 entries. Brian Chikwava, now an established writer in London, returned to the Caine Prize as a 2015 judge. He described the ‘pleasant agreement and disagreement’ involved in selecting the shortlisted writers. ‘Being a good writer alone is not enough to guarantee a place on the short list’ he said. ‘One also needs luck. Plenty of it.’

The winning entry, ‘The Sack’, by Zambian Namwali Serpell, was described by the judges as a ‘truly luminous’ story. The surreal tale about an uncomfortable relationship between two men who loved the same woman, now deceased, relies heavily on the claustrophobic image of a sack. Serpell says that inspirations for ‘The Sack’ came from a disturbing dream she had at age seventeen about being in a sack, and from a 1999 Japanese psychological horror film, ‘Audition’. In an interview with The Guardian, Serpell said she was ‘really pleased that the Caine Prize is honoring something so strange’.

Judges and past winners can shed some light on what is deemed essential in a winning story, but bear in mind that the panel changes every year. Bernadine Evaristo, the 2012 chair of judges, looks for a ‘strong, original streak’, ‘a risk taker’, a story that is ‘provocative and unsettling’. Conversely, for Leila Aboulela, who acted as a tutor at this year’s writers’ workshop in Ghana, a stand out story would be ‘one I would want to pass on to friends’.

Many shortlisted authors and winners of the Caine Prize no longer reside in their native countries, but their link to Africa remains strong, a necessary element for the mindset and creativity displayed in the latest anthology. It is time for another Zimbabwean winner of the Caine Prize, so whether you are in Pote Primary School in Goromonzi, St John’s College in Harare, or reading English honours at UZ, pursue your love of reading, start writing and make a start on that short story that will change your life.

Lusaka Punk and Other Stories is published by ’amaBooks.

Reviewed by Diana Rodrigues

http://www.hararenews.co.zw/2015/10/lusaka-punk-and-other-stories-the-caine-prize-for-african-writing-2015/

A Memory This Size: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2013 reviewed in the Financial Gazette

Kaleidoscope Of Adventures, Experiences From Africa

Diana Rodrigues 3 Oct 2013

Fame may be the spur for many of Zimbabwe’s aspiring and established writers, but the Caine Prize for African Writing offers winning authors not only book readings, book signings and press releases, but prize money worth GBP10 000. The first prize giving ceremony for this prestigious award took place in Harare in 2000, at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, when the winner was Leila Aboulela, who grew up in Khartoum. In 2004 Bulawayo-born Brian Chikwava won the coveted prize for his short story Seventh Street Alchemy, and in 2011 NoViolet Bulawayo was declared winner for Hitting Budapest.

Established in 2000, the same year as The Caine Prize, amaBooks, an independent Bulawayo publisher, opened its doors to budding and published writers, with the intention of promoting creative writing not only in Bulawayo but throughout Zimbabwe and the region. Their latest offering is an anthology of stories shortlisted for the Caine Prize 2013, entitled A Memory this Size and Other Stories, a volume that includes this year’s winning contribution, Miracle, by Tope Folarin of Nigeria. Tales from the remaining short-listed writers make up the anthology and represent a kaleidoscope of experiences and adventures from Sierrra Leone, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Born in Utah and living in Washington DC, Folarin may not appear to be typically African — he describes himself as ‘a writer situated in the Nigerian diaspora’, and feels both American and African. If the judges and chair of the prize committee, Gus Casely-Hayford, felt any qualms about awarding the prize to Folarin, the light touch, narrative skill and humour in the story of a young man singled out by a Nigerian holy man for healing in an evangelical church in Texas, convinced them that he was a worthy winner.

Nigerian Rotimi Babatunde who lives in Ibadan, and won last year’s Caine Prize for Bombay’s Republic, the tale of a veteran who ‘went to Hitler’s War as a man and came back a spotted leopard’, was shortlisted this year for Howl, the tale of a puppy called Jack ‘that had a baby’s eyes’ and improbably grew up to be a paediatrician.

Yet another Nigerian writer, Elnathan John, made the Caine Prize short list, so it would appear that Nigeria sets great store by literature, values its writers and provides fertile ground for creative writing. Trained as a lawyer, Elnathan lives in Abuja. When he’s not writing short stories he dispenses free legal and social aid through his project, Legal Aid. His shortlisted story, Bayan Layi, is about a gang of street kids who fight, take drugs and ‘boast about the people they have killed’.
Short-listed author Chinelo Okparanta was born in Port Harcourt, the chief oil refining city in Nigeria and is familiar with the petroleum industry. In the short story America, her protagonist, who is a science teacher, laments the damage the oil industry has wrought on the ecosystem. Fishermen in Gio Creek fail to catch any fish, but come out of the water ‘harvesting Shell oil on their bodies’. Okparanta has a deft and easy way with words as she describes the science teacher’s enduring love affair with another woman and her parents’ disappointment that they will be without grand children, her ambition to study environmental engineering in America, and vivid insights into the customs, food and people of Nigeria.

Zimbabwean Melissa Myambo is once again short-listed for the Caine Prize, this time for Blood Guilt, a complex psychological story of a liberation war matriarch known as Gogo, whose authority and family are threatened when a damaging video of her interrogation of her ex-comrade Beatrix ‘goes viral’.

Also on the short list again this year is Malawian Stanley Kenani who is an accountant for The Lilongwe Water Board. An avid reader of fiction, whenever he is not ensuring the smooth running of the utility company he works for, he is writing poetry, working on a novel entitled The Auditor, or dreaming about the plot of the next short story to win the Caine Prize. This year’s entry, Clapping Hands for a Smiling Crocodile, describes the perils involved when a government official forces a fishing village on the shores of Lake Malawi to allow an oil drilling company access to the ‘shimmering waters’ of the lake.
amaBooks and other Zimbabwean publishers are seeing the fruits of their efforts, as the country’s literacy rate improves and an increasing number of local writers are encouraged to hone their writing skills and give free rein to their creativity.

Reproduced from the Financial Gazette

http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/kaleidoscope-of-adventures-experiences-from-africa/

A Memory This Size: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2013 is available in Zimbabwe from:
in Harare - National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Grassroots Xarra at the Book Cafe and Avondale Bookshop
in Bulawayo - National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Induna Arts, Tendele Crafts, BooksEtc, Indaba Book Cafe, Z&N Bookshop