Avenues By Train
When seven-year-old Jedza witnesses a tragic incident involving a train and the death of his close boyhood friend in his hometown Miner’s Drift, he is convinced that his life is haunted. Now in his mid-20s, Jedza is a down-and-out electrician, moving to Harare in the hopes that he will escape the darkness and superstitions of the small town. But living in the shadowy restless atmosphere of the Avenues with its mysterious pools of water rising under musasa trees, he is tormented by the disappearance of his sister and their early encounters with ancestral spirits, the shapeshifting power of the njuzu and a vengeful ngozi. To move forward, he must stop running away and confront the trauma of his past.
An eclectic, experimental novel, Avenues By Train is a brash and confident debut by an exciting new voice
Farai Mudzingwa is a freelance writer. His short fiction has been published by Weaver Press, Kwani? and Enkare Review II and his longform articles and reporting have been featured in Chimurenga Chronic, The Mail & Guardian, The Johannesburg Review of Books, Africa Is A Country, This Is Africa, The Africa Report and New Humanitarian. Farai was shortlisted for the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship (2019), the Short Story Day Africa competition (2019) and the Yvonne Vera competition (2013). He was longlisted for the Writivism competition in 2016. He lives in Harare.
