The Boy Next Door

In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, there is a tragedy in the house next door to Lindiwe Bishop--her neighbor has been burned alive. The victim's stepson, Ian McKenzie, is the prime suspect but is soon released. Lindiwe can't hide her fascination with this young, boisterous and mysterious white man, and they soon forge an unlikely closeness even as the country starts to deteriorate.

Years after circumstances split them apart, Ian returns to a much-changed Zimbabwe to see Lindiwe, now a sophisticated, impassioned young woman, and discovers a devastating secret that will alter both of their futures, and draw them closer together even as the world seems bent on keeping them apart. The Boy Next Door is a moving and powerful debut about two people finding themselves and each other in a time of national upheaval.

Author: Irene Sabatini
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Published: 09/08/2009
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.17lbs
Size: 8.38h x 5.80w x 1.26d
ISBN: 9780316049931
Award: Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction - Winner

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/27/2009 pg. 39
Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2009
Booklist 09/15/2009 pg. 28
Shelf Awareness 01/01/0001

About the Author
Irene Sabatini spent her childhood in the laid back city of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, gobbling up books from the Public Library. After University in Harare she ventured across continents to Colombia, excited by the chance to live in, learn from, and be inspired by a new culture. One early morning she found herself in the lush countryside outside Bogotá, sitting on the veranda of a former Dominican monastery: in the quiet, she opened a red notebook and started writing. She has yet to stop.