Hope is our Only Wing
Nominated for the CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2019. A novel set in Zimbabwe about hope - and its power to heal a family, a friendship or even a nation.
For fifteen-year-old Shamiso, struggling with grief and bewilderment following her father's death, hope is nothing but a leap into darkness.
For Tanyaradzwa, whose life has been turned upside down by a cancer diagnosis, hope is the only reason to keep fighting.
As the two of them form an unlikely friendship, Shamiso begins to confront her terrible fear of loss. In getting close to another person, particularly someone who's ill, isn't she just opening herself up to more pain? And underpinning it all - what did happen to her father, the night of that strange and implausible car crash?
Rutendo Tavengerwei's extraordinary debut takes an honest look at hope, and the grit and courage it can take to hang on to it.
Rutendo Nomsa Tavengerwei lived and studied in Zimbabwe until the age of eighteen, when she moved to South Africa to study Law at the University of the Witwatersrand. She has just completed a Masters at the World Trade Institute, and is now working at the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
Rutendo has always loved to write and received tutorials from her father from the age of nine. HOPE IS OUR ONLY WING is her debut novel.
Rutendo says, 'When I wrote Hope I wanted to tell a story with a message. A story that doesn't underplay how hard life can be, but also doesn't underestimate how hope can inspire the will to go on. Most of all, I wanted to share a story about my home, Zimbabwe. I hope that as you read it, you'll get angry, you'll laugh, you'll get shocked and perhaps even cry at times. But I hope you remember through all that emotion that hope is our only wing!'