Summary

The novel is told in the second person, with the narrator addressing its central protagonist, Tambudzai Sigauke, or “Tambu” as she is called for short, as “you.” In the first chapter, Tambudzai wakes up in a women’s hostel to the sound of her hostelmate, Gertrude, knocking on her door. Tambudzai once worked for an advertising agency, where she created brochures that lied about local village life. Tambudzai dons her interview skirt and goes to greet Mrs. May, the matron of the hostel.

Tambu tells the hostelmates Gertrude and Isabel that she is going to visit relative in Borrowdale. The hostelmates go shopping. Tambu goes for an interview at the estate of Mbuya Riley, a widowed old white woman. Tambu is hoping to rent a room from the widow. The maid chases Tambu away.

In Chapter 2, Tambu speaks to a man in her combi...