Of Land and Spirits - Softcover

Thrush, Alan R.M.

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798602312577

Publisher: Independently published, 2020

Synopsis

A BOOK TO TAKE YOU TO THAT TIME AND PLACE. PERFECT CHOICE FOR READERS WHO ENJOYED 'THREE SIPS OF GIN'.

‘The finest piece of writing, novels or otherwise, on the fighting in the Rhodesian bush. Thrush writes skilfully from personal experience that lends strong credibility to a work that he protests is pure fiction. The historical background is accurate – and in some instances revealing.’ – J R T Wood – author-historian

Battle action from the African bush …
… Zimbabwe-Rhodesia – March 1980: It is a time of turmoil and suffering as white rule yields to black nationalism in a war that has cost 50 000 dead and untold wounded. In the humid, pre-dawn gloom, Rhodesian Army units are poised to re-group and attack assembled guerrilla forces. Results of the internationally supervised elections are seeping through: an overwhelming vote for Robert Mugabe. In camps across the country, twenty thousand guerrillas stand to their weapons, waiting for the napalm to come crashing and burning into hut, trench and bunker. Waiting for the soldiers, pouring down from the sky.

This is the climax of eight years of war between guerrilla forces and an established government which has dared to unilaterally declare its independence from England. No quarter will be given; it is the end of Empire. Of Land and Spirits is the best-selling classic of this time – the story of Andrew Scott, John Bruton, George Sibanda, Kuretu, Mpehla and many others of the Rhodesian Army as they fight with great skill a war they cannot win. For even as the kills mount, so the numbers of the enemy inside the country grow ever larger. It is also the story of a rural population and its swikiros – the spirit mediums who lead and guard – won over to the revolutionary side by Jason Mavunha, Elias Chimombe and other guerrillas of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army who have dared to contest the ancestral land.

This is war fiction at its finest – the story of a white community wanting to hold on to standards and tradition despite the cost in human life, without realising the effect this is having on their sons who must carry on the fight. Of a black community whose sons serve on both sides, and which suffers reprisal and atrocity. Nowhere has the sheer weariness of war been better portrayed, with its numbing boredom interspersed with gut-wrenching excitement. There is bravery, cowardice, comradeship and, above all, the loss that comes from civil war.

Praise from the media:

‘Stark and realistic.’ – Mail & Guardian

‘Vivid, accurate, and often lyrical.’ – Personality Magazine

‘On a par with All Quiet on the Western Front or Henry Williamson’s A Test to Destruction for its war writing; the equal of Mukiwa for descriptions of Rhodesia.’ – W G Eaton – Australian Press

‘Thrush has produced the best of the genre.’ – The Citizen

‘Fascinating. Throbs with authenticity.’ – John Gordon Davis – author of Hold My Hand I’m Dying

‘Clearest yet depiction of the Rhodesian bush war … from both sides.’ – The Star

To read the story, click below the book cover: Read Sample

Genres: historical fiction; war fiction; political fiction; Zimbabwean history; saga.

About this title

About the Author

First published in hardcover in 1997, Of Land and Spirits quickly achieved widespread recognition as the defining novel of the Rhodesian Bush War. Its follow-up, A Cross for Two Graves, introduced fresh characters to pick up the thread.

Educated at Christian Brothers College, Bulawayo, and called up for national service directly from school in January 1974, Alan ended the bush war as a decorated captain in the Rhodesian African Rifles. In 1980 he left the fledgling state of Zimbabwe for South Africa to begin a career in business-to-business marketing. He ran his own consultancy in Johannesburg for more than 30 years and still runs it today, though from Spain where he moved in 2016.

Alan's latest novel, set in World War One and the standalone sequel to A Salient in Flanders (reviewed as one of the most believable modern accounts of the Great War), has just been published.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798602312577
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 467