Overview

Peter's mother is dying. Born in England and having spent most of her adult life as a doctor in Zimbabwe, she now lies on a hospital bed in the partitioned living room of his sister's London apartment, her accent having overnight become posher than the Queen's. Unsentimental, fiercely stubborn and at times hilarious, she finally drops her guard, losing all fear of conflict to become the family provocateur. While confronting the revelations of what his family was - and wasn't - and the stoicism that sometimes threatened to destroy them, Peter also mourns the ending of his long marriage. At this point of rupture and healing, Peter reflects on his family's legacy of exile and their tenuous hold on home. In Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars, Peter Godwin considers, with both tenderness and candour, the life of migrs, exiles and refugees, and grieves the many losses that make life both magnificent and unbearable. He brings us into the spaces which make us question, suffer and celebrate the relationships we have among family and friends, and the healing of our own wounds.

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9781805303336

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Reviews

So funny, so elegant, so erudite, and as a portrait of an extraordinary mother and the family she made, it is masterful, moving and unforgettable -- DAVE EGGERS A memoir on love, loss and life, of rare candour and intimacy, utterly compelling, by a truly brilliant writer -- PHILIPPE SANDS Praise for Mukiwa: The life of the white boys and girls in colonial Africa has vanished now, but this fine and powerful memoir is a marvellous contribution to its literature -- WILLIAM BOYD * * Sunday Times * * Remarkable -- DORIS LESSING * * Observer * * Praise for The Fear: The Fear is an important book . . . Godwin is passionate and personal, as well as bold in his travel and scrupulous in his documentation -- PAUL THEROUX The Fear is an urgent and essential book . . . it makes for relentlessly gripping reading -- PHILIP GOUREVITCH A feat of fearless reporting, this shattering story is not only an expose of the horrors of political violence, but a testament to the astonishing courage of ordinary citizens in the face of evil -- MELANIE THERNSTROM Peter Godwin' s passionate and courageous memoir catalogues Zimbabwe's descent into horror with such vivid detail . . . Godwin's heroes refuse to back down. Again and again they find ways to resist. This remarkable courage runs a thread of hope through the book -- WILF MBANGA Peter Godwin's latest book is the most powerful indictment of Robert Mugabe's regime yet written, marking out the author as one of the sharpest observers of modern Africa' * * Economist * * There is nothing on the subject of Robert Mugabe's terror state that comes even close to Peter Godwin's brilliant account. It took great courage to pursue this horror at close range, as Godwin did. This book will change utterly readers' perceptions of what is happening in this afflicted corner of Africa -- NORMAN RUSH

A profound account of this strange time of life we're all in - when all the certainties we thought we'd sorted out are collapsing around us and we're suddenly like naked children in the wilderness . . . This moving memoir is an essential addition to Peter Godwin's brilliant oeuvre -- CLAIRE MESSUD Finely wrought, contemplative, intimate, lyrical and searingly emotionally honest, Exit Wounds is a story of war and love and of tragedy. In a life that has been marked by loss: of a birthright, a nation, of family and finally of his marriage, Peter Godwin traverses the wilderness of grief towards redemption. Exit Wounds will leave you breathless and imprint itself indelibly upon your heart -- AMINATTA FORNA So funny, so elegant, so erudite, and as a portrait of an extraordinary mother and the family she made, it is masterful, moving and unforgettable -- DAVE EGGERS Magnificent and moving -- TAN TWAN ENG A memoir on love, loss and life, of rare candour and intimacy, utterly compelling, by a truly brilliant writer -- PHILIPPE SANDS Unforgettable . . . I was so enchanted by Godwin's prose, his insights, his deft use of imagery and the conversations between mother and son, husband and wife, brother and sister - some heartbreaking, some funny, some walking that tightrope between - that I didn't want this brilliant book to end -- MAGGIE SMITH A rich, shattering memoir of an extraordinary family. Lifted up by rueful humour, easy erudition, painful honesty and deep affection, Peter Godwin's story swings between Zimbabwe and New York, with time in London, where his formidable mother is dying. Exit Wounds is a harrowing, gorgeous account, ultimately, of his own long search for home -- WILLIAM FINNEGAN Peter Godwin is already a classic African writer. Exit Wounds is riveting, heart-rending and borderless in its brilliance and sympathy. What a book -- JOSEPH O'NEILL Praise for Mukiwa: The life of the white boys and girls in colonial Africa has vanished now, but this fine and powerful memoir is a marvellous contribution to its literature -- WILLIAM BOYD * * Sunday Times * * Remarkable -- DORIS LESSING * * Observer * *

Praise for Mukiwa: The life of the white boys and girls in colonial Africa has vanished now, but this fine and powerful memoir is a marvellous contribution to its literature -- WILLIAM BOYD * * Sunday Times * * Remarkable -- DORIS LESSING * * Observer * * Praise for The Fear: The Fear is an important book . . . Godwin is passionate and personal, as well as bold in his travel and scrupulous in his documentation -- PAUL THEROUX The Fear is an urgent and essential book . . . it makes for relentlessly gripping reading -- PHILIP GOUREVITCH A feat of fearless reporting, this shattering story is not only an expose of the horrors of political violence, but a testament to the astonishing courage of ordinary citizens in the face of evil -- MELANIE THERNSTROM Peter Godwin' s passionate and courageous memoir catalogues Zimbabwe's descent into horror with such vivid detail . . . Godwin's heroes refuse to back down. Again and again they find ways to resist. This remarkable courage runs a thread of hope through the book -- WILF MBANGA Peter Godwin's latest book is the most powerful indictment of Robert Mugabe's regime yet written, marking out the author as one of the sharpest observers of modern Africa' * * Economist * * There is nothing on the subject of Robert Mugabe's terror state that comes even close to Peter Godwin's brilliant account. It took great courage to pursue this horror at close range, as Godwin did. This book will change utterly readers' perceptions of what is happening in this afflicted corner of Africa -- NORMAN RUSH Praise for When A Crocodile Eats the Sun: A powerful, emotional and provoking travel book that should be read by everyone heading to Southern Africa * * Guardian * * Heartfelt, absorbing and profoundly moving * * Sunday Times * *

'Praise for Mukiwa: The life of the white boys and girls in colonial Africa has vanished now, but this fine and powerful memoir is a marvellous contribution to its literature' - WILLIAM BOYD 'Remarkable' - DORIS LESSING 'Praise for The Fear: The Fear is an important book . . . Godwin is passionate and personal, as well as bold in his travel and scrupulous in his documentation' - PAUL THEROUX 'The Fear is an urgent and essential book . . . it makes for relentlessly gripping reading' - PHILIP GOUREVITCH 'A feat of fearless reporting, this shattering story is not only an expose of the horrors of political violence, but a testament to the astonishing courage of ordinary citizens in the face of evil' - MELANIE THERNSTROM '' -

So funny, so elegant, so erudite, and as a portrait of an extraordinary mother and the family she made, it is masterful, moving and unforgettable -- DAVE EGGERS A memoir on love, loss and life, of rare candour and intimacy, utterly compelling, by a truly brilliant writer -- PHILIPPE SANDS Unforgettable . . . I was so enchanted by Godwin's prose, his insights, his deft use of imagery and the conversations between mother and son, husband and wife, brother and sister - some heartbreaking, some funny, some walking that tightrope between - that I didn't want this brilliant book to end -- MAGGIE SMITH Praise for Mukiwa: The life of the white boys and girls in colonial Africa has vanished now, but this fine and powerful memoir is a marvellous contribution to its literature -- WILLIAM BOYD * * Sunday Times * * Remarkable -- DORIS LESSING * * Observer * * Praise for The Fear: The Fear is an important book . . . Godwin is passionate and personal, as well as bold in his travel and scrupulous in his documentation -- PAUL THEROUX The Fear is an urgent and essential book . . . it makes for relentlessly gripping reading -- PHILIP GOUREVITCH A feat of fearless reporting, this shattering story is not only an expose of the horrors of political violence, but a testament to the astonishing courage of ordinary citizens in the face of evil -- MELANIE THERNSTROM Peter Godwin' s passionate and courageous memoir catalogues Zimbabwe's descent into horror with such vivid detail . . . Godwin's heroes refuse to back down. Again and again they find ways to resist. This remarkable courage runs a thread of hope through the book -- WILF MBANGA Peter Godwin's latest book is the most powerful indictment of Robert Mugabe's regime yet written, marking out the author as one of the sharpest observers of modern Africa' * * Economist * *

Author Information

Peter Godwin was born and raised in Zimbabwe. He is the author of six non-fiction books including Mukiwa, which received the George Orwell Prize and the Esquire-Apple-Waterstones award, and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, which won the Borders Original Voices Award. His book The Fear was selected by the New Yorker as a best book of the year. He has taught writing at Wesleyan and Columbia, and served as President of the PEN American Center. He is an Orwell fellow and a Guggenheim fellow. He lives in New York City. @petergodwin

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