The Sunday Mail
THE story of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle has been told in various forms, with many writers laying their accounts and recollections in black and white.
From biographies to fiction, there is a fair body of work reflecting on the country’s history.
Among the historical books that have been published, there are several that stand out from the rest, with the writers bringing fresh angles.
One such book is Colette Choto Mutangadura’s “Rutendo: The Chief’s Grand Daughter”, a refreshing romantic novel set in the liberation struggle.
Unlike other novels that concentrate on the fighting that was going on between the liberation fighters and the Rhodesian army, this book focuses on the romance between a chief’s granddaughter and a white soldier.
The story revolves around Rutendo and Barry, a Rhodesian soldier assigned to protect the chief’s homestead. The two become attracted to each other under the unlikeliest of circumstances.
When Rutendo comes home on holiday from a teacher training college, she finds her grandfather’s homestead guarded by white soldiers, tasked with fending off a youth political movement that views chiefs as government puppets.
Barry, who left his job as a bank teller to do national service in the army, does not like the fact that he has been posted in the remote reserves of the country but the sudden appearance of a new girl in the chief’s household gives spices things up.
Setting aside his fears of the language barrier, cultural conflicts and racial differences, Barry sets on a quest to win Rutendo’s heart.
After falling in love with Barry, Rutendo is burdened with conflicting thoughts as she tries to figure out how the other villagers and family members will take such a union.
She has to make a difficult choice between cementing her relationship with Barry and joining other youths in the liberation movement.
Reading a novel based on events of the war, one would expect action packed scenes with guns blazing and plenty of explosions but here things are different.
Two lovebirds have to manoeuvre around strong societal views on interracial relationships at a time there is a war between blacks and whites.
This novel works around the notion that love knows no bounds, with both parties being tested from every corner.
Before Rutendo’s own trials and tribulations caused by romance with a white man, her grandmother also had an affair with a white farmer, bearing a child with him.
Mutangadura is a splendid writer whose creativity is reflected in her work and this book is gripping from the first page.
To find out how the relationship pans out, you have to read to the last full stop.
From the characterisation to the description of the landscape, the writer gives the book a lively feel.
