Darling and her friends turn choosing countries into a game. Everyone picks America, Britain, Canada, Australia, Switzerland. No one wants Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, or the place where they actually live. Their home is a shanty called Paradise, though it's anything but paradise. Still, childhood happens here. They play Find bin Laden, steal guavas, belt out Lady Gaga songs. They imagine America, Dubai, Europe as true paradises where Madonna, Barack Obama, and David Beckham live. Darling gets her wish. She reaches America and discovers what thousands of displaced people learn: the new paradise creates different problems. Her struggles multiply. The people she left in Zimbabwe face their own consequences from her departure.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, african-literature, coming-of-age, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: America, Australia, Britain, Canada, Congo, Dubai, Europe, Iraq, Paradise, Somalia, Sudan, Switzerland, Zimbabwe
Period: 21st-century
Paperback · W F Howes Ltd