| Year of Publication: | 2023 |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Rating: | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Disclaimer: | This book was sent to me by NB Publishers for review purposes. |
Imagine being at the brink of everything you’ve ever wanted. Through you, finally the dreams of your dead mother and your ‘struggling’ father can finally come true. Foremost, however, is how you are so close to making your own dreams come true.
Vimbai, a final year law student at the University of Zimbabwe has been dealt some hard blows in life. Through it all, she’s managed to keep her head up. The universe has blessed her with a few people in her corner, a stubborn and determined head, a tongue that could lash at the wittiest of them all and a heart of gold. Said heart, may, however, be hidden in the rubble of all the walls she’s built, broken and rebuilt.
In Sunshine & Shadows, Busisekile takes us on Vimbai’s journey to attaining her dreams, hunting down the soft life by any means possible, and falling in love with 2 men, while only one of them seems a true match for her.
The way in which Busisekile relays Vimbai’s story feels as though Vimbai herself were sitting with you telling you of the life she spent in both the sunshine and shadows of Harare. Her descriptive prose is so picturesque one can’t help but vividly see every scene, smell every scent and feel every emotion at play in this story.
The book explores themes of friendship, heartbreak, abuse, loss, grief, wealth, power, poverty, love, mental health, mother-daughter relationships, politics, father-daughter relations, sacrifice and so much more.
Busisekile’s characters are so well developed and are given an abundance of back story that makes even the worst of them understandable and close to loveable, even the villains. They are so richly crafted and you can be sure they’ll live within you long after the final page.
Sunshine & Shadows reminded me of the beauty of being a black African woman. Of being young, free, and in control of your life and choices. That though we may be different from our sisters, our struggles and joys are the same. That, ultimately, we are all searching for the same thing, a form of emancipation from the patriarchy, an ownership of our beings just as they are, a place in the world and somewhere soft to call home.
As soon as I shut this one, I knew I’d dive head first into book 2.
Busisekile Khumalo is a South African bestselling author. She has written 10 books including popular The Harvard Wife series and Nomaswazi. She has chosen to pursue her love for books over her learned profession in law. Sunshine and Shadows is first book in her latest series. Busisekile currently resides in Johannesburg.
