JANINE Dube has come a long way to establish herself as one of Zimbabwe’s finest emerging contemporary writers from the Diaspora.
If her latest work – A Dark Horizon -- is anything to go by, her future alongside some of Zimbabwe’s literary luminaries is secure.
Janine’s fiction is "very simple on the surface, but there's a depth; she uses the novel for a political and social end", said one reviewer on Amazon.
The 29-year-old says she draws her inspiration from the challenges that people from the developing world face. She permanently occupied with private concerns of how the outside world perceives Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular.
The negative view of Zimbabwe makes her sad, she says. And in her assigned role within the vast post-colonial discourse, she presents Zimbabwe as a place where life is normal too.
She treats current issues with artistic dexterity within the boundaries of contemporary discourse. The current political situation in Zimbabwe does not escape her watchful artistic eye.
Janine, who lives in the Welsh town of Newport, told New Zimbabwe.com that through the book, she hopes to “dispel some myths the world has about Africa and Zimbabwe”.
She added: “It is a contemporary tale that raises issues that society may or may not be comfortable discussing openly … an accessibly-written tale that is also meant to entertain.”
The book’s hero is a woman called Rachel. After inheriting a struggling company, Rachel is tempted into marrying an older man who also happens to be one of the wealthiest and most powerful businessmen in the country.
She knows she faces an uphill struggle, but she relishes the challenge of reviving the ailing company.
Soon, she is facing more challenges in the form of his children, especially his son who is adamant that she is not suitable for his father. As she struggles to prove herself at work and at home, she is unaware of the meticulously planned plot to bring her already shaky world crushing down.
Janine is keen to use the broader national crisis to reveal its tentacles spreading to private enterprise and family life.
Though not strictly a feminist writer, she is firm in principle on the need for equality, fairness between genders and equal opportunities in all matters of life.
The most distressing inequality symptom in society that she projects is that for a woman to be recognised, she has to “prove herself” before accessing the male-dominated means of production.
Janine is passionate about African leaders and challenges them to demonstrate to the world that there is a lot that Africa offers.
She is scathing in her condemnation of the world media’s treatment of Africa – “a place of death, corruption, disease and dictators” – but also expresses sorrow that some Africans are feeding the negativity.
A Dark Horizon (320 pages) (2009) published by AuthorHouse (UK). You can buy it on AuthorHouse.com and Amazon. It will be available from WH Smith and other retailers soon