Shamiso’s father, a journalist investigating government corruption in Zimbabwe, recently died in a car accident. Shamiso and her mother have returned from England, where they were living before his death. With her grief fresh, compounded by rumors her father was murdered, Shamiso, 15, doesn’t want anyone at her new school to know she’s his daughter and keeps her distance from other students. Tanyaradazwa (Tanya), who attends the same school, is a talented singer, but she’s just learned the cancer she hoped was in remission has come back with a tumor on her vocal cords. Tanya doesn’t want pity; neither does Shamiso. It’s what draws them to each other. “Hope is our only wing,” says Tanya, quoting Shamiso’s father without knowing Shamiso is his daughter. But when Tanya gets sicker, Shamiso pulls away, unwilling to face another loss. A novel set in 2008 that deftly and keenly weaves the political and personal— government regulations means it’s harder and harder for Tanya’s family to afford her treatment; a letter from her father that Shamiso loses is a life and death matter because it references the government corruption—is also a beautifully rendered story of friendship between two Black girls. (Age 13 and older)

Set in Zimbabwe, Rutendo Tavengerwei's unforgettable novel offers a beautiful and honest look at adolescence, friendship, and the capacity for courage.

For fifteen-year-old Shamiso, hope is nothing but a leap into darkness. Grief-stricken and confused after her father's mysterious death in a car crash, Shamiso moves with her mother from England to Zimbabwe in order to pick up the pieces--returning to an extended family and a world she hardly remembers. For Tanyaradzwa, a classmate whose life has been turned upside down by a cancer diagnosis, hope is the only reason to keep fighting.

As an unexpected friendship blossoms between them and the two girls navigate the increasingly uncertain political situation in Zimbabwe, Tanyaradzwa helps Shamiso confront her fear of loss. In opening herself to someone with a potentially fatal illness, Shamiso knows that she might be opening herself to more pain. Yet Tanyaradzwa is the only one who gives her the strength to ask the burning question: What really happened to her father?