Adolescents Elizabeth and Tururu—she’s white, he’s black—share an uneasy friendship on a remote sisal plantation in 1953’s Zimbabwe. Resentment to white rule erupts throwing them into the crossfire of political change and ancient ritual. To make matters worse, a clash between Tururu’s witchdoctor grandmother and her apprentice unleash ancient fire spirits that will make the British overlords look like saints. Will their friendship survive? The novel’s dual viewpoints afford an intimate glimpse into the two faces of a country at a crucial time in its history.
