Author(s): Farai Mudzingwa

Novel | 2024 Republic of Consciousness Prize long list | Africa | 2024 Republic of Conscousness Prize short list | Small Press

When seven-year-old Jedza witnesses a tragic incident involving a train and the death of his close boyhood friend in his home town Miner's Drift, he isconvinced that his life is haunted. Now in his mid-20s, Jedza is a down-and-out electrician, moving to Harare in the hopes that he will escape the darkness and superstitions of the small town. But living in the shadowy restless atmosphere of the Avenues with its mysterious pools of water rising under musasa trees, he is tormented by the disappearance of his sister and their early encounters with ancestral spirits, the shapeshifting power of the njuzu and a vengeful ngozi.

Tomove forward, he must stop running away and confront the trauma of his past. An eclectic, experimental novel, Avenues By Train is a brash and confident debut by an exciting new voice