Glory

When a young black writer is said to be “out-Orwelling Orwell” in their mash-up of “Animal Farm”, you’d expect the eyes of aging white readers to roll - but they shouldn’t. NoViolet Bulawayo - yes, there is a clue in the name - is smart and supremely talented, and “Glory” is one of the best books I’ve read this year. After 150 pages I was thinking “Get on with it - at least Animal Farm is clear and short…” but by page 400 I was knocked out. It’s creative, funny and passionately angry - a massive demolition job on the corruption that seeps through the history of of Zimbabwe. Quite what she does and how she does it is hard to describe, but then I don’t want to do it for you - I want to say get it from the library, like I did, and see if her magic works on you the way it did on me. I hope so.