Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

Alexandra Fuller's book tells the story of her family of white Zimbabwean tenant farmers in the years before and after Independence.

These are not the wealthy landowners demonised by the present Zimbabwean government; they struggle to make a living off the land, as well as the usual hazards of the African bush, they fear landmines and attacks by guerrillas crossing the border from Mozambique.

Their farm is seized by the new government and awarded to political cronies under a land distribution programme and they move south to a much harsher ranch, where their diet is based on impala and brackish water from a borehole that is strictly rationed.

From Zimbabwe, the Fullers move to Malawi, where they are closely watched by government agents, notably a houseboy who presents himself for employment and will not take 'no' for an answer.

The politics and the everyday struggle to make a living from the land are mixed with family tragedy; a sister drowned, a brother dead from meningitis and another stillborn.