Extraordinary real-life story personifies the horrifying impact Mugabe had on the lives of Zimbabweans

About the Book:

Captured by murderous land-grabbing ‘war veterans’, former Zimbabwe international swimming star Kathleen O’Dea and heavily pregnant Heather, wife of anti-Mugabe politician Roy Bennett, were forced to watch the horrific beating of Bennett’s loyal black farm workers, some of whom were raped and murdered. Under threat of death from the machete-wielding mob the two women had to chant pro-Mugabe slogans. Heather later lost the baby she was carrying. Bravely defiant, Kathleen stayed to help other white farmers, getting caught up in more terrifying farm raids, before she fled to England with only £10 in her pocket, believing that she might get the British Government to stop all the brutality in her beloved homeland. Sometimes disturbing, sometimes sad, sometimes wickedly funny, Kathleen’s extraordinary story personifies the impact Mugabe has had on the lives of thousands of “wandering Zimbabweans.”

Excerpt from the Book:

“I will never understand how to most of the outside world black on black genocide seemed to be acceptable – or at least not all that important. It was important, for God’s sake. Why couldn’t they see that? And why didn’t they stop it?
Some white people in Zimbabwe still believed they had the right to superiority over the majority black population. But most white people did not peddle that colonialist crap. They were only human, though, and basic human nature tells you to look after your own family. It is human nature to want to protect your own home. It is human nature to want to guard your own space.
There had to be a way forward that accepted all those basic truths.
There had to be a rational way forward.
There had to be a patient, statesmanlike way forward.
It had to take a long time to do this properly. To do it properly, you had to recognise the legal and human rights of everybody involved. Otherwise, beautiful, fertile, self-sufficient Zimbabwe, the bread basket of Africa, was going to go to hell in a handcart. And so were its people, white and black.
But Robert Mugabe was a man in a hurry.
Zimbabwe did go to hell in a handcart.
On the way there were more appalling atrocities.
I got caught up in those atrocities.
Mugabe’s mobs brought horror to my paradise.
And to this day I am still struggling to get my head around it all.”

Marshmallow Fishes by Kathleen O’Dea is available in paperback from:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marshmallow-Fishes-Kathleen-ODea/dp/1785070347

It is also available to download in e-book format from:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marshmallow-Fishes-Barrie-Williams-ebook/dp/B00OYWLY3M

Press/Media Contact Details:

New Generation Publishing
Tel. 01234 712 064
E-mail: info@newgeneration-publishing.com