BY SHARON SIBINDI
BULAWAYO-BASED award-winning author Bryony Rheam says she is optimistic that her second novel All Come to Dust will be a huge success, just like her debut one, This September Sun, as it has proved popular not only in the country judging from the received feedback.
Rheam is an enthusiast of the writings of Agatha Christie, and her latest novel, All Come to Dust, is written in the style of a Christie detective story.
Although the novel is set in modern-day Zimbabwe, it also looks back to the time just before the country’s independence.
Rheam told NewsDay Life & Style that All Come to Dust examines where the nation is today and the path taken to get there, adding that the readers of the novel have well-received it.
“After the launch of All Come to Dust in November last year, the novel has proved popular in Zimbabwe and the second print run is keenly awaited by those who missed out on buying a copy earlier,” she said.
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“It is not only readers based in Zimbabwe who have found the book a riveting read, but those outside the country too.”
Award-winning Nigerian writer Yejide Kilanko said the beauty of All Come to Dust is its refusal to be called one thing.
“It’s complicated, just like life. We follow flawed, authentic characters as they navigate their changing world and acknowledge that the past, buried or not, always nips on the present’s heels.”
Harare-born writer Paula Hawkins said in All Come to Dust, Rheam had created a fictional detective as memorable as Hercule Poirot.
“All Come to Dust is an intriguing, twisting murder mystery, a witty combination of old-fashioned detective story and keenly-observed portrait of life in suburban Bulawayo,” she said.
Rheam said readers in the United Kingdom will get their chance to read the multi-layered novel when it is released there later in the year, jointly published by amaBooks and Parthian Books.
“The Arab world will follow with the Arabic publication by Al Arabi publishers of Egypt. Although the novel may be read as a straightforward crime story, there is a deeper message in it as well, as it sets out to explore contemporary Zimbabwean society,” she said.
“Each character hangs on to the past in some way or another, some seeking comfort in it and some seeking revenge for things that have happened to them.
“Ultimately, each realises that they need to let go of the past in order to move forward. However, it is not always possible and when it is, it is certain to upset those who wish us to stay the same.”
- Follow Sharon on Twitter @SibindiSharon