Sleepwalking Land

An old man and a young boy, refugees from a civil war, seek shelter in a burnt out bus. Among the effects of a dead passenger, they discover a set of notebooks that tell of his life. As the boy reads the story to his elderly companion, the tale gradually becomes part of their own lives. "Sleepwalking Land", Mia Couto's first novel, was first published in in 1992: an immediate success, it was voted at the Zimbabwe Bookfair one of the 12 best African books of the 20th century. Set in the author's native Mozambique, the novel examines the effects of war and devastation on a newly independent African nation. A somber book, it reflects a moment in the history of Mozambique when the country could only go forward after settling its account with the bloody past. Deftly exploring the relationship between oral tradition and the written word, truth and fiction, memory and invention, this is a memorable book that captures a critical moment in Africa's history.