Patchwork

Winner of the 2010 Penguin Prize for African Writing. In this coming-of-age novel, acclaimed author Ellen Banda-Aaku offers a profound exploration into the effects of stigma, class, and family dynamics in 1970s Zambia. ''Everyone calls me Pumpkin. Firstly, because I was a fat, chubby-cheeked baby. And, secondly, because when Ma was pregnant with me, no matter how much pumpkin she ate, she just couldn''t get enough...'' Pumpkin is a nine-year-old girl pulled between two vastly different worlds – that of her father, the wealthy and power-hungry Joseph Sakavungo, and her mother, his unstable mistress.As Pumpkin attempts to come to terms with her own identity, will she be able to fashion a future for herself out of the torn patchwork of her life?Beautifully constructed, Banda-Aaku moulds a story that is heart-rending and bittersweet.