A review by ccallan
House of Stone by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma

3.0

A long overdue literary treatment of the massacres and government repression in Matabeleland by the Zimbabwean government shortly after the first elections for majority rule in 1980. The story is beautifully written and the characters engaging, with flashes back and forth from the terror unleashed to the attempts of survivors to live normal lives in a society that refuses to acknowledge the atrocities. The device of the main character ingratiating himself with his adopted family wears after a while, and I wanted her to get on with the story, but his machinations are creative and disturbing and merit the slow reveal that the novel gives them.