Simukai Chigudu

A rough Zimbabwean equivalent of Jung Chang’s Wild Swans . . . and Lea Ypi’s Free . . . skilfully fuse[s] his own story with the broader sweep of history . . . The writing is a pleasure . . . There is much pith . . . And bursts of revelation . . . The book’s awakening is universal, the discovery that our parents are not infallible . . . It is Chigudu’s twin existence that gives the book its depth . . . moving and highly readable

Beautifully written . . . While the removal of a Cecil Rhodes statue from its plinth in Cape Town in 2015 always seemed both fitting and overdue, the attempt to extend the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign to Oxford felt – to me, at least – like a case of arrogant overreach. I reassessed that view after reading Chigudu’s memoir, so convincingly does he convey how historic repression and inherited trauma worm their way into the mindsets of succeeding generations . . . Great biographers need to be both lacerating and humane: Chigudu certainly has those qualities . . . The even-handed empathy he displays throughout to all the players in his life’s story makes this a truly compelling read

Compelling . . . an elegant exploration of how political liberation does not always bring freedom for oneself . . . the burden of his generation's inheritance is expressed most powerfully

A fascinating memoir, both intimate and epic, which will teach you more about the legacies of colonialism than a hundred op-eds, or a dozen textbooks

In this remarkable memoir, Simukai Chigudu unravels the meanings – both world-historical and personal – of colonialism, history and liberation. Chasing Freedom is a work of real power and beauty, as well as disarming truthfulness

Amia Srinivasan, author of The Right to Sex

Utterly captivating. Chasing Freedom is a finely observed, gripping account of growing up in Zimbabwe and building a life in Britain, told with such clarity and precision that I forgot I was reading

Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee

A complicated, engrossing and, ultimately, brilliant portrait of a family navigating the minefields of the postcolonial world

Jonny Steinberg, author of Winnie and Nelson

Simukai Chigudu writes compellingly, lucidly and beautifully, weaving together his personal and family experiences with the history of his native Zimbabwe. An eye-opener

Zeinab Badawi, author of An African History of Africa

Deeply personal and moving. An unflinching account of the search for self amid the burdens of the past

Peter Godwin, author of When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

Simukai Chigudu seamlessly blends the history of African colonization and the jagged paths to independence with the story of his remarkable family. It is also the story of those for whom these massive global transformations were mere backdrops for growing up across continents and cultures

Louis Chude-Sokei, author of Floating In a Most Peculiar Way

Masterful. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the ways in which the legacies of empire ricochet through the generations

Aminatta Forna, author of The Devil That Danced on the Water

Coming of Age at the End of Empire

In my home country, they call me a ‘bornfree’. 
 
Simukai Chigudu was one of the first generation to be born after the end of colonial rule in Zimbabwe. Growing up he heard stories about his grandfather’s murder by the Rhodesian regime, how his father had been imprisoned and tortured as a student before joining the bloody war of independence as a guerilla, and how his mother had thrown off the strictures of the past to build a successful career helping other women do the same. Yet Simukai’s early life was also steeped in British tradition. With his classmates he sang English folk songs, read Shakespeare, played cricket. 
 
Then, in 2002, he was one of thousands to leave the country as it descended into political violence and economic collapse. His new home: a boarding school in the north of England. What followed was a culture shock that unravelled his understanding of the world, his family and himself. 
 
Chasing Freedom is his profound and remarkably moving story – that of a boy shaped through his parents’ buried trauma by the great currents of late-twentieth century history. It is the story of a family haunted by the cause of liberation, and of a new generation, still searching for their promised freedom.

Simukai Chigudu

Praise for Chasing Freedom

A rough Zimbabwean equivalent of Jung Chang’s Wild Swans . . . and Lea Ypi’s Free . . . skilfully fuse[s] his own story with the broader sweep of history . . . The writing is a pleasure . ...

Beautifully written . . . While the removal of a Cecil Rhodes statue from its plinth in Cape Town in 2015 always seemed both fitting and overdue, the attempt to extend the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign to Oxfor ...

Compelling . . . an elegant exploration of how political liberation does not always bring freedom for oneself . . . the burden of his generation's inheritance is expressed most powerfully

A rough Zimbabwean equivalent of Jung Chang’s Wild Swans . . . and Lea Ypi’s Free . . . skilfully fuse[s] his own story with the broader sweep of history . . . The writing is a pleasure . ...

Beautifully written . . . While the removal of a Cecil Rhodes statue from its plinth in Cape Town in 2015 always seemed both fitting and overdue, the attempt to extend the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign to Oxfor ...

Compelling . . . an elegant exploration of how political liberation does not always bring freedom for oneself . . . the burden of his generation's inheritance is expressed most powerfully

A rough Zimbabwean equivalent of Jung Chang’s Wild Swans . . . and Lea Ypi’s Free . . . skilfully fuse[s] his own story with the broader sweep of history . . . The writing is a pleasure . ...

Beautifully written . . . While the removal of a Cecil Rhodes statue from its plinth in Cape Town in 2015 always seemed both fitting and overdue, the attempt to extend the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign to Oxfor ...

Compelling . . . an elegant exploration of how political liberation does not always bring freedom for oneself . . . the burden of his generation's inheritance is expressed most powerfully

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