The Ones We Loved - Tarisai Ngangura

A wrenching love story and literary debut following two strangers whose paths converge in a series of seemingly chance encounters and shared histories n On a bus moving across rural landscapes from town to town, two young people are escaping with nothing to hold except hope. She has committed a horrifying act for which there will certainly be retribution. He is staggering from a devastating discovery. They will find each other and attempt to move forward, even as their grief leaves wounds on their new beginnings. n n Seamlessly transitioning between past lives and present realities, The Ones We Loved tenderly weaves both myth and memory into an account of two people desperate for connection and yearning for a place to belong. They will find sunflowers carrying death, rivers that whisper secrets and trees that will see it all. n nThe Ones We Loved is told in the rhythms of oral retellings practiced in Zimbabwe, where a ngano (story)--its melodies, pauses and lifts--creates a call-and-response with the audience. It is a breathtakingly beautiful story about the homes we leave behind, the lonely voices that find us and the painful consequences of experiencing a love that has never known how to let go.n