Exit Wounds
LONGLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES LITERARY AWARD FOR NONFICTION
'Masterful' DAVE EGGERS
'Unforgettable' MAGGIE SMITH
'Profound' CLAIRE MESSUD
'Will leave you breathless' AMINATTA FORMA
When she turned ninety, my mother sprang a final surprise on us. She started speaking in the voice of a stranger.
Peter's mother is dying. She finally drops her guard, losing all fear of conflict to become the family provocateur.
While confronting the revelations of what his family was - and wasn't - and the stoicism that sometimes threatened to destroy them, Peter reflects on his family's legacy of exile and their tenuous hold on home. He makes us question, suffer and celebrate the relationships we have among family and friends, and the healing of our own wounds.
Peter Godwin was born and raised in Zimbabwe. He is the author of six non-fiction books including Mukiwa, which received the George Orwell Prize and the Esquire-Apple-Waterstones award, and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, which won the Borders Original Voices Award. His book The Fear was selected by the New Yorker as a best book of the year. He has taught writing at Wesleyan and Columbia, and served as President of the PEN American Center. He is an Orwell fellow and a Guggenheim fellow. He lives in New York City.
@petergodwin