I travelled to Zambia about 5 years ago and read up about its history but nowhere was it stated that Zambia had its own space program in the 1960’s. I really enjoyed some of the true historic events the author weaved into the story. As the generations pass, their lives – their triumphs, errors, losses and hopes – form a symphony about what it means to be human.įrom a woman covered with hair and another plagued with endless tears, to forbidden love affairs and fiery political ones, to homegrown technological marvels like Afronauts, microdrones and viral vaccines – this novel sweeps over the years and the globe.īritish colonialism vs African revolutionaries, 3rd world poverty vs high tech drones, beautiful powerful writing vs meaningless ramblings. This sets off a cycle of unwitting retribution between three Zambian families (black, white, brown) as they collide and converge over the course of the century, into the present and beyond.

Clark, foggy with fever, makes a mistake that entangles the fates of an Italian hotelier and an African busboy. In 1904, in a smoky room at the hotel across the river, an Old Drifter named Percy M. Here begins the story of a small African nation, told by a swarm-like chorus that calls itself man’s greatest nemesis. On the banks of the Zambezi River, a few miles from the majestic Victoria Falls, there was once a colonial settlement called The Old Drift. A Zambian debut novel that follows three generations of three families, telling the story of a nation, and of the grand sweep of time

The old drift a novel