Casting with a Fragile Thread: A Story of Sisters and Africa
by Wendy Kann
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Description
In this poignant, lyric memoir, a sister's tragic death prompts a woman's unbidden journey into her turbulent African past.A comfortable suburban housewife with three children living in Connecticut, Wendy Kann thought she had put her volatile childhood in colonial Rhodesia now Zimbabwe behind her. Then one Sunday morning came a terrible phone call: her youngest sister, Lauren, had been killed on a lonely road in Zambia. Suddenly unable to ignore her longing for her homeland, she decides she show more must confront the ghosts of her past.Wendy Kann's is a personal journey, set against a backdrop as exotic as it is desolate. From a privileged colonial childhood of mansions and servants, her story moves to a young adulthood marked by her father's death, her mother's insanity, and the viciousness of a bloody civil war. Through unlikely love she finds herself in the incongruous sophistication of Manhattan; three children bring the security of suburban America, until the heartbreaking vulnerability of the small child her sister left behind in Africa compels her to return to a continent she hardly recognizes.With honesty and compassion, Kann pieces together her sister's life, explores the heartbreak of loss and belonging, and finally discovers the true meaning of home." show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Touching story of three sisters growing up in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe during tumultuous times...a violent political climate and a disfunctional home life. It would have been more complete if it had included the impact on the family of what was going on in the country. Drawn back to her childhood home by the tragic death of her younger sister, the author is faced with unsettling memories. A good "first book" for Ms. Kann. I hope she writes more.
I'm left puzzled by why the writer still doesn't see the connection between the fury and violence perpetrated against her friends and neighbors and the fury and violence used to create the system in the first place. She's clueless.
Zimbabwe
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Author Information
1 Work 98 Members
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Wendy Kann
- Important places
- Westport, Connecticut, USA; Salisbury, Rhodesia; Zambia; Zimbabwe (Rhodesia)
- Dedication
- For Lauren.
- First words
- Lauren, my youngest sister, was killed in a car accident on a straight and lonely road in Zambia in 1999.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"She loved you so very much," I told him, and he nodded solemnly, and then I didn't want him to see me cry, so I turned away.
- Blurbers
- Fuller, Alexandra; Scheeres, Julia; Fugard, Lisa; Slaughter, Carolyn; Erdman, Sarah; Nixon, Rob
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction, Travel, History
- DDC/MDS
- 968.91 — History & geography History of Africa Southern Africa: Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi Zimbabwe, Mostly
- LCC
- CT275 .K327 .A3 — Auxiliary Sciences of History Biography Biography National biography
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 98
- Popularity
- 330,264
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.48)
- Languages
- English, Russian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 1
