Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Hope Is Our Only Wing
    Hope Is Our Only Wing
    Hope Is Our Only Wing
    Audiobook4 hours

    Hope Is Our Only Wing

    Written by Rutendo Tavengerwei

    Narrated by Robin Miles

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Set in Zimbabwe, Rutendo Tavengerwei's unforgettable novel offers a beautiful and honest look at adolescence, friendship, and the capacity for courage. For fifteen-year-old Shamiso, hope is nothing but a leap into darkness. Grief-stricken and confused after her father's mysterious death in a car crash, Shamiso moves with her mother from England to Zimbabwe in order to pick up the pieces-returning to an extended family and a world she hardly remembers. For Tanyaradzwa, a classmate whose life has been turned upside down by a cancer diagnosis, hope is the only reason to keep fighting. As an unexpected friendship blossoms between them and the two girls navigate the increasingly uncertain political situation in Zimbabwe, Tanyaradzwa helps Shamiso confront her fear of loss. In opening herself to someone with a potentially fatal illness, Shamiso knows that she might be opening herself to more pain. Yet Tanyaradzwa is the only one who gives her the strength to ask the burning question: What really happened to her father?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 17, 2019
    ISBN9781980049067
    Hope Is Our Only Wing

    Related to Hope Is Our Only Wing

    Related audiobooks

    Young Adult For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Raybearer

      Aug 12, 2020

      RELEASED OUT NOW! 496 pages | Paperback/ebook/audiobook Author Jordan Ifueko Publisher Hot Key Books This is Jordan Ifueko’s first novel, and it’s already evident that this young Nigerian-American author is going to be one hell of a force once she re

      1 min read

    • Article

      Pick Up A Tool

      May 14, 2021

      Pick Up A Tool
      8 min read

    • Article

      Cherie Jones

      Jan 7, 2021

      Cherie Jones
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Megan Giddings

      Dec 16, 2020

      I wrote a letter to my congressman who said it was fine for people to die to save the economy. His office wrote one back encouraging me to cheer up. The post A Year in Reading: Megan Giddings appeared first on The Millions.

      10 min read

    • Article

      YA Novel 'The Poet X' Is An Elegiac Meditation On Poesy And Religion

      Mar 23, 2018

      Young poet-protagonist Xiomara must dig deep to reclaim her identity and her voice, in spite of her rough circumstances.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Shipstead, Ryan, Walker, and More

      May 17, 2022

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Maggie Shipstead, Eimer Ryan, Sarai Walker, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read our most recent book preview. Want to help The Millio

      5 min read

    • Article

      Heather Morris

      Sep 23, 2021

      Heather Morris
      1 min read

    • Article

      Akwaeke Emezi

      May 28, 2021

      Akwaeke Emezi
      6 min read

    • Article

      Yellow Summer Rain

      May 19, 2022

      Yellow Summer Rain
      23 min read

    • Article

      The Color of Hope

      Oct 10, 2023

      The thing I remember most about him was his huge, shiny black shoes. No one I had seen since teaching at Chavez School wore such shoes. In the sweltering climate of this Arizona city, the boys wore what used to be called tennies, and the girls, on th

      6 min read

    • Article

      Social Promotion

      Mar 19, 2024

      I didn’t understand. If that boy couldn’t read, why was he up there? The girl they originally had hosting the ceremony didn’t show, but why they put that boy there? Just because he volunteer for everything? You can’t read off enthusiasm. It made the

      21 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Hope Is Our Only Wing

    4/5

    9 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      adult/teen fiction (Zimbabwe 2008, Shamiso has lived in London since she was small, but now finds herself back in Zimbabwe during a time of upheaval after her father's suspicious death)
      This was not "diverse teen lit" so much as world literature with a teen in it. It's well written and serves to point out how poor my knowledge of world events is.

      Recommended.
    • 4/5
      Shamisa barely remembers her life in Zimbabwe before her parents moved to Slough, a move made to enable her father to continue his work as a journalist, one who is prepared to be critical of the regime in his country of birth. Therefore, when the family is forced to return to Africa she desperately misses the only friends she has ever known. When they don’t keep in touch she can’t understand their lack of contact, especially as she thinks that they must realise what she is suffering following her father’s sudden death in a car crash. After his death she would like to return to the only home she has ever known but, without the necessary immigration papers, she and her mother are unable to travel back to Britain. Instead she is sent to boarding school and, feeling hurt about her friends’ apparent rejection, is convinced that friendships can’t be trusted so she is determined to remain aloof from her fellow pupils. However, Tanyaradzwa, a girl in her class whose life has also been turned upside down by a diagnosis of cancer, but who continues to hold onto the hope of a better future, persists in holding out the hand of friendship. Her persistence eventually starts to break through the defences Shamisa has erected, particularly once Tanyaradzwa reminds her that it was through his journalism that her father had offered people hope, reminding them that “hope is our only wing out of a stormy gale….” This is a lesson which, for a long time, Shamisa finds hard to accept, believing that hope is a dangerous thing, something which leads only to further hurt and disappointment. However, without it, is it ever possible to come to terms with the past and to find ways of moving forward? For very different reasons, both girls must confront their fears, come to terms with the fact that in relationships people often make mistakes and accept the risks inherent in getting close to, and trusting, others. They must also recognise that it is only through the combination of understanding and a capacity for forgiveness that people are able to trust and to move on with their lives. This story is set in Zimbabwe in 2008, a time of systemic corruption and of increasing political and social unrest. Rampant inflation has led to even middle-class Zimbabweans facing a daily struggle to afford food, to gain access to housing and healthcare and to cope with an erratic electricity supply. In times of such despair, holding onto hope isn’t easy, it requires determination and courage and in this debut novel the author manages to convey a very moving if, at times distressing, picture of daily life in the country which was once known as the “bread basket of Africa”. Central to this life is an acute awareness that anyone who opposes the dictatorial regime is in mortal danger. However, the author’s reflections on the political and social unrest never overwhelm the heart of this story which is, essentially, about the developing friendship between two young girls who are struggling to come to terms with loss, to trust in hope and to believe in a future which holds the promise of a better quality of life. Both Shamiso and Tanyaradzwa must confront their deepest fears if they are to cope with the challenges which confront them and I thought that the author captured their individual struggles in a convincing and very sensitive way. The developing friendship between them felt credible and at times very moving as each of them grappled with losses, both real and feared. Although this book is aimed at a Young Adult readership and is written in a rather simple style, the story deals with some weighty themes, including grief, loss, life-threatening illness, corruption, poverty, food shortages, political assassinations, in a thought-provoking way and so is certainly one which can be appreciated by older readers. The author evoked a powerful sense of the countless deprivations people were facing in their daily lives as well as the searing heat they also had to contend with. This may be a rather short novel but it is a powerful one, one which is full of humanity and gentle wisdom – a paean to friendship and the need to retain a sense of hope, even during the darkest experiences of life. It is an impressive debut.My thanks to Readers First and Bonnier Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.