Bryony's Blog

Ebook of the Month: This September Sun by Bryony Rheam February’s  ebook of the month  is  This September Sun .  Published by Parthian in 2012, it is now available in ebook format from all good online stores –  a new chance to discover the book or read it again.   Originally published in Zimbabwe by amaBooks,  This September Sun  is a moving story about deception, family secrets and, above all, love; following the lives of Ellie, a shy girl growing up in post-Independence Zimbabwe, and her grandmother, whose secret affair with a married man is discovered in her old diaries. With this revelation, Ellie must reconsider her relationship with her grandmother and face up to some truths about herself.   In  This September Sun , Bryony Rheam addresses the political and social situation of White Zimbabwe from the 1940s to the present day, addressing current affairs relating to Mugabe’s rule and the history of what once was Rhodesia. Sh...

www.gwales.com reviews ‘This September Sun’ I am delighted to give This September Sun a glowing review. Bryony Rheam was born in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, and this novel, although not autobiographical, has surely been inspired by her childhood memories. This September Sun richly deserved its success in winning the Zimbabwean Best First Novel Award in 2010. From the first chapter onwards, this novel is beautifully crafted. There is drama, an absorbing journey taken by a convincing set of characters and a satisfactory ending which is realistic rather than fairy tale. The cast grows slowly, allowing the reader time to get to know the characters a few at a time before more appear, rather than wishing for a cast list to remind one of who’s who. Bryony Rheam expresses herself wonderfully throughout the novel: ‘In Africa, rain takes the place of snow in instilling a feeling of Christmas cosiness.’ She describes dreams vividly and uses the description of insignificant things (such as ...

Stories about Africa do not have to be about starvation says Bryony Rheam by Our Correspondent, Western Mail Aug 11 2012 Add a comment Recommend (3) in Share 2 Share on email Share on print It’s a long way from Zimbabwe to Swansea, but good stories travel well. Which is why Welsh publisher Parthian published the winner of the Zimbabwean Best First Novel Award. Author, Bryony Rheam, basks in the background to This September Sun I’ve always believed I was born in the wrong age. I should have been born in the ’20s or ’30s and lived in a large house in the British countryside. There would have been a cook, at least two maids, a gardener and perhaps even a nanny thrown in for good measure. I’d go to boarding school and, in the holidays, I’d explore the nearby woods and find fairies and pixies and elves and we’d all have such splendid fun. Considering the reading matter I was exposed to as a child, this idea of myself is not surpri...

This September Sun by Bryony Rheam Recent years have seen a great proliferation of books about Africa, especially Zimbabwe.  It seems that just about every ex-farmer, ex-Rhodesian soldier and ‘Whenwe’ Zimbabwean has written their life story.  News of yet another book about this troubled nation might not then be greeted with much enthusiasm.  However, what sets This September Sun apart from your standard Zimbabwean novel, is that firstly it is a work of fiction, and secondly, it focuses mainly on the relationship between a young girl growing up in Zimbabwe post-Independence and her grandmother, the incorrigible Evelyn, who moved to Rhodesia in the late forties.             Evelyn is no ordinary grandmother.  She leaves her husband and moves into a flat by herself after years of being a housewife and stuck in an unhappy marriage.  She finds a job and a boyfriend and gains a new lease on life, but it is one ...

I’ve always believed I was born in the wrong age. I should have been born in the twenties or thirties and lived in a big manor house in the English countryside. There would have been a nanny, a cook, at least two maids, a gardener and perhaps even a butler thrown in for good measure. Daddy would go to London on the train every morning and mother would run the Women’s Institute, organizing raffles and tea parties, all held at the local Vicarage, of course. I’d go to boarding school and, in the holidays, I’d explore the nearby woods and find fairies and pixies and elves and we’d all have such splendid fun.  Considering the reading matter I was exposed to as a child, this idea of myself is not surprising.Yes, Enid Blyton has a lot to answer for, and more so in the colonies where this idea of between-the-Wars-England lived a far longer life than it did in England itself.But she wasn’t alone. My maternal grandmother was a vociferous reader. She’d sit with a pile of books next to her a...

Over the last couple of years, I have developed a strong interest in investigating why some children are readers and others are not.  My interest arose after marking a particularly appalling set of exam papers for Grade 8 (12-13 year olds) in February of 2010.  All but a few managed to write an essay that had a beginning, middle and end, that used paragraphs and that contained a well-narrated, interesting storyline.  I started reading widely on the subject and also asked the pupils themselves what they had read as children and what their parents had read to them.  I was shocked to find that more than half could not remember anyone reading to them at all.  I was also shocked to find out how many of them had televisions and/or playstations in their rooms.  I came to the conclusion that, though I was teaching at a private school, many of the pupls had actually suffered some degree of emotional neglect: some hardly saw their parents at ...

The best books are the ones you don't want to end.  I can think of a few books like this that I read, and then reread, as a child.  'The Magic Faraway Tree' was one and 'The Adventures of the Wishing Chair' is another.  Luckily, there were three books in 'The Faraway' series and two in 'The Wishing Chair', but I am sure I probably wished there were more.  Considering how much I loved these books, and I know there is a whole fan club out there dedicated to them, it really is no surprise to see that someone has decided to continue both the stories.  Silky, the beautiful fairy with lovely silken hair, now appears in a series of her own entitled 'Enchanted World' and Jack, Jessica and Wishler have replaced Peter, Molly and Chinky in 'The New Adventures of The Wishing Chair'.  Although I can well understand why someone would want to continue the stories as I imagine they loved them as much as I did, there is also something really objectio...