Inspired by the unexpected fall by coup, in November 2017, of Robert Mugabe -- Zimbabwe's president who took office in 1980 and...never left -- Bulawayo's bold, vividly imagined novel chronicles not the new and better country that rises in the wake of upheaval but the chaos of a citizenry driven to the brink of despair by their leaders' failure to deliver on their promises. As with her debut novel We Need New Names, Bulawayo's fierce voice and lucid imagery immerses us in the daily life of a traumatized nation, showing us the dazzling life force and irrepressible wit that lies barely concealed beneath the surface of seemingly bleak circumstances. The animal kingdom--its connection to the roots of our fairy tales and folk tales -- provides the perfect link between the surreality of what's happening in the world around us today and the intense childhood storytelling that first helped us imagine our futures.