{"product_id":"the-mourning-bird-by-mubanga-kalimamukwento","title":"The Mourning Bird by Mubanga Kalimamukwento","description":"\u003cp\u003eISBN: 9781431429028\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublisher: Jacana Media, 2019\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback, 193 pages\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen 11-year-old Chimuka and her younger brother, Ali, find themselves orphaned in the 1990s, it’s clear that their seemingly ordinary Zambian family is brimming with secrets, from HIV\/AIDS, to infidelity, to suicide. Faced with the difficult choice of living with their abusive extended family or slithering into the dark underbelly of Lusaka’s streets, Chimuka and Ali escape and become street kids.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgainst the backdrop of a failed military coup, election riots and a declining economy, Chimuka and Ali are raised by drugs, crime and police brutality. As a teenager, Chimuka is caught between prostitution and the remnants of the fragile stability that existed before her parents’ death.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Mourning Bird is not just Chimuka’s story, it’s a national portrait of Zambia in an era of strife. With lively and unflinching prose, Kalimamukwento paints a country’s burden, shame and silence, which, when juxtaposed with Chimuka’s triumph, forms an empowering debut novel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"I H Pentz Booksellers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46709039956130,"sku":null,"price":250.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/4047\/3732\/files\/download_6993d20f-ca98-43a6-bf3b-f6ace9791290.jpg?v=1774604562","url":"https:\/\/pentzbooks.co.za\/products\/the-mourning-bird-by-mubanga-kalimamukwento","provider":"I H Pentz Booksellers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}