Andrea Eames, The White Shadow, and The Cry of the Go-Away Bird

Photo by Tosin Awofeso, #besomebody

The Making of Stones

A powerful, lyrical exploration of what it means to be lover, wife, daughter and mother.

“In The Making of Stones, poet Andrea Eames takes us through a journey of such profound intimacy and honesty one can’t help but come away feeling a little stunned. The opening poem, ‘If You Love Me’ could easily be as much for the reader as for an unnamed lover, as it perfectly encapsulates what this breathtaking collection is all about: the too-much, the all-encompassing nature of being female. In these pieces, Eames artfully blends vulnerability, sensuality, and spirit with lyrical language and poetic technique, and in the process creates a collection that makes us feel that everything—life, love, the world itself—is too much to experience sanely, and yet, that this is what makes it perfect.” — Sarah Hackley Montalbano, author of The Things We Lose.

The Making of Stones begins with an autopsy and ends with a question. In between is all open-eyed, tender terror. Everything is seen and felt and tasted and heard here. Hold your breath, dive in, immerse yourself fully. Become what the poet wants you to become: a lover, undressed and intrepid before her. I dare you.” — Jenna Martin Opperman.

Now available online from: Amazon | Amazon UK | in local bookstores: Bookwoman | BookPeople | Half-Price Books North Lamar | and in New Zealand bookstores: Scorpio Books (Christchurch) | Unity Books (Wellington)


The White Shadow

“Look after your sister, Tinashe.”

Tinashe is a young Shona boy living in a small village in rural Rhodesia. The guerilla war of the late 1960s haunts the bushlands, but it only infrequently affects his quiet life; school, swimming in the river, playing with the other kids on the kopje. When his younger sister, Hazvinei, is born, Tinashe knows at once that there is something special about her. Their life in the village, once disturbed only by the occasional visits of his successful uncle and city cousin, Abel, now becomes entangled with the dual forces of the Shona spirit world and the political turmoil of the nation. As Tinashe, Hazvinei and Abel grow older, their destinies entangle in ways they never expected. Tinashe is prepared to follow his sister anywhere – but how far can he go to keep her safe when the forces threatening her are so much darker and more sinister than he suspected?

Visit the book page on Goodreads.

Now available from: Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository


 The Cry of the Go-Away Bird

Elise is a young white Zimbabwean in the 1990s. Her clothes are always clean and ironed, there is always tea in the silver teapot, gins and tonics are served on the verandah, and, so she believes, black and white are living in harmony. As Mugabe’s presidency turns sour, however, this idyllic and privileged world begins to crumble into anarchy – and Elise discovers that behind her paradise lay inequalities and horrors that she had never imagined.

Told through the eyes of a young girl, ‘The Cry of the Go-Away Bird’ follows the struggle of one white farming family to stay afloat in the collapsing economy and escalating horror of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. When the farm invasions begin, the violence threatens to destroy their way of life forever, and escaping the vengeful ghosts of their past seems impossible.

Visit the book page on Goodreads.

Now available from: Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository