African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe

A highly personal story of the eminent British writer returning to her African roots that is "brilliant . . . [and] captures the contradictions of a young country." — New York Times Book Review

A rich and penetrating portrait of Lessing's homeland, African Laughter recounts the visits she made to Zimbabwe in 1982, 1988, 1989, and 1992, after being exiled from the old Southern Rhodesia for 25 years for her opposition to the minority white government. Lessing uses memory and reminiscence with recent experience to depict a country in the process of change.

What does a country look like a decade after revolution, through the eyes of an author who was once forbidden to return?

• Return from Exile: After 25 years as a Prohibited Immigrant, Doris Lessing returns to the landscape of her youth, confronting the ghosts of Southern Rhodesia and the realities of a new nation.
• A Nation in Transition: Through four distinct visits spanning a decade, Lessing chronicles the immense social and political changes, triumphs, and contradictions of post-liberation Zimbabwe.
• Sharp Political Commentary: With an unflinching eye, Lessing examines the fault lines of race, the rise of a new ruling class, and the complex legacy of a long and bitter war.
• A Personal and Historical Record: Blending intimate reminiscence of her past with keen-eyed reportage of the present, Lessing creates a deeply moving portrait of a people and a country finding their way.

Winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature, Doris Lessing was one of the most celebrated and distinguished writers of our time, the recipient of a host of international awards. She wrote more than thirty books—among them the novels Martha Quest, The Golden Notebook, and The Fifth Child. She died in 2013.