Yvonne Vera's novels chronicle the lives of Zimbabwean women with extraordinary power and beauty. Without a Name and Under the Tongue, her two earliest novels, are set in the seventies during the guerrilla war against the white government.

In Without a Name (1994), Mazvita, a young woman from the country, travels to Harare to escape the war and begin a new life. But her dreams of independence are short-lived. She begins a relationship of convenience and becomes pregnant.

In Under the Tongue (1996), the adolescent Zhizha has lost the will to speak. In lyrical fragments, Vera relates the story of Zhizha's parents, and the horrifying events that led to her mother's imprisonment and her father's death. With this novel Vera became the first Zimbabwean writer ever to deal frankly with incest. With these surprising, at times shocking novels Vera shows herself to be a writer of great potential.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 02/13/2002
ISBN: 9780374528164
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.50w x 0.60d

Review Citations: Library Journal 09/01/2001 pg. 237
Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2001 pg. 1579
Publishers Weekly 12/24/2001 pg. 40
Booklist 02/15/2002 pg. 994
New York Times 03/17/2002 pg. 25
Multicultural Review 09/01/2002 pg. 83