HOPE IS OUR ONLY WING is a powerful coming-of-age novel for teen readers which tells of an extraordinary friendship and its healing power in times of illness and adversity; it is also a love song to her home country, Zimbabwe, which certainly deserves to be discovered and known for other than its politicians’ fights for power.
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 fearful 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 the fateful car crash?
Delicately weaving themes of corruption in contemporary Zimbabwe and bringing to life its sights, smells, faraway beauty, this unforgettable novel takes an honest look at hope, and the grit and courage it takes to hang on to it.
