Going Home

"Africa belongs to the Africans; the sooner they take it back the better. But―a country also belongs to those who feel at home in it. Perhaps it may be that love of Africa the country will be strong enough to link people who hate each other now. Perhaps..."

Going Home is Doris Lessing's powerful nonfiction memoir of her first journey back to Africa, the land in which she grew up and in which so much of her emotion and her concern are still invested. Returning to Southern Rhodesia in 1956, she found that her love of the country had remained as strong as her hatred of the idea of "white supremacy" espoused by its ruling class. Going Home evokes brilliantly the experience of the people, black and white, who have shaped and will shape a beloved country.

In this unflinching work of social commentary, Lessing explores the charged landscape of a nation on the brink:

• A Raw Portrait of Colonial Africa: Journey with Lessing back to 1956 Southern Rhodesia, a land she loves, ruled by a system of racial inequality she despises.
• Incisive Social Commentary: Witness through Lessing’s sharp, observant eye the daily realities of apartheid and the rigid structure of white supremacy.
• A Personal Memoir: A deeply personal account of returning to the place that shaped her, grappling with a complex sense of home, identity, and belonging.
• The Human Experience: Lessing evokes the lives of both black and white people, caught together in a system that pits them against each other, in a country beloved by all.

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.

David Diaz has illustrated numerous award-winning books for children, including smoky night by Eve Bunting, for which he was awarded the Caldecott Medal; The Wanderer by Sharon Creech, which received a Newbery Honor; and Me, Frida by Amy Novesky, a Pura Belpré Honor Award winner. Mr. Diaz lives in Southern California.