The Theory of Flight by Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
As Imogen Zula Nyoni, aka Genie, lies in a coma at Mater Dei Hospital, her family and friends struggle to come to terms with her impending death. This is the story of Genie, who has gifts that transcend time and space. With the lightest of touches, and with an overlay of magical-realist beauty, this novel sketches, through the lives of a few families and the fate of a single patch of ground, decades of national history (a country in southern Africa that is never named) - from colonial occupation through the freedom struggle. At turns mysterious and magical, but always honest, The Theory of Flight explores the many ways we lose those we love before they die.
Praise for The Theory of Flight
Winner of the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize
“Ndlovu’s deeply moving and complex novel is astonishing for the amount of hope it evokes despite the darkness that’s so pervasive in Genie’s world, where she creates her own reality in order survive. This transcendent and powerful testament to the indomitable human spirit is not to be missed.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“An unnamed country in the southern part of Africa springs to life in this delicate work of magical realism. […] The Theory of Flight is unlike anything you’ve read before.” — Bustle
“A dazzling novel of delicate and astonishing magic. The Theory of Flight is a joyful tapestry of characters shaped but never deformed by the tensions of the times they traverse, narrated in prose of devastatingly beautiful simplicity.” Tsitsi Dangarembga, author of This Mournable Body
“The Theory of Flight is a prodigious, time-stopping concerto that decisively places Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu on the global stage. A writer to watch.” —NoViolet Bulawayo, author of We Need New Names
“An epic novel written with such wit and ingenuity. I was unable to put this book down, in awe of Ndlovu and her stunning virtuoso, the ways she brings these unforgettable characters into a magical world with such delightful of prose. Beautiful and utterly sublime. My novel of the year.” — Novuyo Tshuma, author of House of Stone
