Glory by Noviolet Bulawayo
Riffing off Animal Farm, this novel is a political satire set in a fictional post colonial African state 'Jidada... with a da and another da' and follows political machinations and personal struggles to maintain power versus those seeking freedom and democracy in a state populated by animals of all kinds. When we join the story, the revolutionary government and its president, the Old Horse, is almost literally in its dog days, ruling over the worn out and poverty stricken country with an iron fist, enabled by the dog militia. It could describe a number of regimes, but is particularly referencing the overthrow of Mugabe in 2017. Mugabe is represented by Old Horse and his young wife is Marvellous the donkey. The old guard is overthrown by a younger horse, the vice president Tuvius Delight Shasha and we follow the rising of hope of 'free fair & credible elections' and the brutal crushing of those hopes through the eyes of Destiny, a young goat who moves back to ...