The Hairdresser of Harare

Selected for the Junior Library's pilot program for adult/teen crossover books
 
In this delicious and devastating first novel, which The Guardian named one of its ten best contemporary African books, Caine Prize finalist Tendai Huchu (The Maestro, the Magistrate, and the Mathematician) portrays the heart of contemporary Zimbabwean society with humor and grace.
 
Vimbai is the best hairdresser in Mrs. Khumalo's salon, and she is secure in her status until the handsome, smooth-talking Dumisani shows up one day for work. Despite her resistance, the two become friends, and eventually, Vimbai becomes Dumisani's landlady. He is as charming as he is deft with the scissors, and Vimbai finds that he means more and more to her. Yet, by novel's end, the pair's deepening friendship-used or embraced by Dumisani and Vimbai with different futures in mind-collapses in unexpected brutality.
 
The novel is an acute portrayal of a rapidly changing Zimbabwe. In addition to Vimbai and Dumisani's personal development, the book shows us how social concerns shape the lives of everyday people.


Author: Tendai Huchu
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: 09/05/2015
Pages: 200
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.51w x 0.45d
ISBN: 9780821421635
About the Author
Tendai Huchu's work has been translated into German, French, Spanish, and Italian. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Interzone, Wasafiri,  and elsewhere. He was shortlisted for the 2014 Caine Prize.