Book review: Tin Man by Sarah Winman

I have somehow missed the Sarah Winman train. Her debut novel When God Was a Rabbit won awards all over and turned her into an international bestseller. Her second novel, A Year of Marvellous Ways also received rave reviews.

Up to the time of writing this I have read neither one of them. I joined her fan club only with her third novel, Tin Man which I finished last week. I have now bought her first two books so I will be on a Winman binge for a couple of weeks which is a lovely thing to look forward to.

 I usually do not review non-African books for this column, but I think as writers we can learn a lot from Tin Man and also it is a fabulous book. In the first scene of the book we find Ellis’ mother taking a stand for herself against her bullying husband when she wins a raffle and, though her husband wants her to choose the expensive bottle of whiskey, she instead takes the reproduction of Vincent Van Gogh’s sunflower painting. She then defiantly hangs it in their sitting room and warns the husband not to touch it. He never does.

Editor's Comment
Closure as pain lingers

March 28 will go down as a day that Batswana will never forget because of the accident that occurred near Mmamatlakala in Limpopo, South Africa. The tragedy affected not only the grieving families but the nation at large. Batswana throughout the process stood behind the grieving families and the governments of Botswana and South Africa need much more than a pat on the back.Last Saturday was a day when family members said their last goodbyes to...

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