African Chick Lit- Behind Every Successful Man

I’m at a point right now if I read one more African book about a corrupt dictator or the ravages of war I might have to poke BOTH of my eyes out. Can we just lighten up folks? Yeah for Zukiswa Wanner who has done just that with her latest book Behind Every Successful Man. She’s not trying to win the Nobel Prize, she doesn’t want to make some earth shattering point- she just wants to write an entertaining book poking a bit of fun at the new BEE class in South Africa and she has succeeded in doing just that.

Beautiful Nobantu is married to successful Andile. Like women all over the world, she put her life plan on hold to help her husband and raise their children, but as the years pass the nigglings became shouts and she realises she needs something more. Andile has no interest in listening to her, so she makes the tough decision to leave husband and kids to start her own children’s clothing business. She tells Andile that she will not move back home until he supports her like she supported him for so many years.

This is Wanner’s second book and is published by Kwela. The first, The Madams (Oshun), met with good reviews. The author was born in Zambia to a South African father and a Zimbabwean mother, a real product of SADC. I met her in Gaborone at Bontekanye Botumile’s book launch last month. She gave me a bit of a fright as her energy levels rival a nuclear power station, but I was thankful she suggested we swap books, that’s how I got my copy. I hope she continues writing these types of books. Popular fiction will pull in a popular reading public; this is exactly what we need to get Africans reading.

Thanks, Ms Wanner, and good luck!

(Click on cover for link to Amazon if you want to buy, BUT they have no stock (!)- come on what is up with distribution folks??)