Night of the Fireflies

Michael Raeburn

 

  • Unknown publisher
  • Unknown city
  • Unknown year
  • English

Synopsis

In a story full of twists and turns, Night of the Fireflies follows in the great tradition of African culture in which real and unreal are merely two sides of the same coin. Set in the nightmarish landscape of the traumatized city of Maputo, capital of Mozambique, the story unfolds over 15 days in the Christmas of 1984. On a desperate quest to find his lost lover in the war-torn city, the narrator becomes a guest in the household of Rainer, a highly eccentric man of mixed race whose psychic powers are startlingly revealed in his extraordinary healing of a dying soldier.

Review

This book must surely rate as one of the stranger phenomena of postcolonial Africa. The author is the well known film maker who was expelled from Zimbabwe by Ian Smith after he made the film Rhodesia Countdown. His most recent film, Zimbabwe Countdown, shown at the 2006 London Film Festival, examines the rule of Robert Mugabe, the hero of his youth. So he is no lightweight on the African continent. - Mail & Guardian

Author

Michael Raeburn was born in Cairo, Egypt. He has achieved international acclaim as a director and script writer, and also is a novelist.