This September Sun

by Bryony Rheam

Overview

This September Sun won the Best First Book prize at the 2010 Zimbabwe Book Publishers' Association Awards. The book is a chronicle of the lives of two women, the romantic Evelyn and her granddaughter Ellie. Growing up in post-Independence Zimbabwe, Ellie yearns for a life beyond the confines of small town Bulawayo, a wish that eventually comes true when she moves to the United Kingdom. However, life there is not all she dreamed it to be, but it is the murder of her grandmother that eventually brings her back home and forces her to face some hard home truths through the unravelling of long-concealed family secrets.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780797493780
Publisher:	amabooks
Publication date:	12/29/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	376
File size:	969 KB

About the Author

Bryony Rheam is a part-time English teacher and a former lecturer at the University of London’s External Degree Program in Singapore. She is the winner of the Intwasa Short Story Competition and the recipient of the Zimbabwe Best First Book Award.

Editorial Reviews

Rheam's debut novel follows Ellie, a shy, bookish girl growing up in Zimbabwe while navigating personal and political drama. The novel opens on Ellie's sixth birthday, a momentous day in her life as it marks two events: Zimbabwe's independence from Britain, and Ellie's grandmother, Evelyn, leaving her grandfather to live on her own. While Ellie's grandfather feared that independence meant "The end was near" for White settlers like themselves in Zimbabwe, Evelyn embraces the changes as a headstrong woman unafraid of her own freedom. Through her adolescence, Ellie grows closer to her grandmother who encourages her to continue her education in England. After Evelyn dies, Ellie returns to Zimbabwe and discovers a series of diaries her grandma kept that reveal an illicit affair she had carried on throughout her marriage. As she uncovers Evelyn's secrets in the diaries, Ellie is forced to reconsider her relationship with her family and also to reexamine how she lives her own life. The lengthy novel feels repetitive at times as we experience events firsthand from Ellie's perspective and then again as reflected upon in Evelyn's diaries. Still, it's the personal moments and conflicts that drive this narrative of family secrets and forgiveness. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Brilliantly evokes the ennui of the pre-Independence settler community who measure out their lives in cups of tea, sundowners, and illicit affairs."  —John Eppel, author, Spoils of War

"...it's the personal moments and conflicts that drive this narrative of family secrets and forgiveness."—Publisher's Weekly


"As she uncovers Evelyn's secrets in the diaries, Ellie is forced to reconsider her relationship with her family and also to reexamine how she lives her own life . . . the personal moments and conflicts drive this narrative of family secrets and forgiveness."  —Publishers Weekly


"As she uncovers Evelyn's secrets in the diaries, Ellie is forced to reconsider her relationship with her family and also to reexamine how she lives her own life...the personal moments and conflicts drive this narrative of family secrets and forgiveness." —Publisher's Weekly 

From the Publisher