Unfeeling

Davey is in the attic when the gang comes. At sixteen, he's almost the man his father wants him to be, and almost the child he was. But something from beyond the ages keeps him above, locked in shock, as beneath him his parents are murdered and his family's farm is 'reclaimed'. The neighbouring farmers - his parents' closest friends - take him in and try to care for him, try to bring him back into their community of normality - the club, the church, after a few weeks, his boarding school. They look to cope, like their people have always done. But Davey is on a different path. One night he escapes from his school and embarks on a harrowing, terrifying journey across Africa, coming home to Edenfields, looking for redemption.

'The frightening intensity of life in Zimbabwe is powerfully captured in Ian Holding's assured first novel. Holding builds up his nightmarish picture with intense detail. His descriptions of the land are haunting, his own love of it poignantly vivid ... his work sings ... Unreeling his story, he touches nerve after nerve, drawing the reader into a mesmerized, sickened understanding of this unsettled land.' Rosemary Goring, Glasgow Herald
'Controversial and powerful ... Through the eyes of his teenage protagonist Holding charts the horror and fear of those who suffered eviction and watched as the livelihood they had fought for was torn out from underneath them.' The Big Issue
'Shows us one corner of this tragic landscape with a raw intensity that mocks his title ... As he sets out for home on a vividly rendered journey of revenge, our picture of his parents' life and death fills in with a multitude of tender, and horrific, touches. UNFEELING compels attention for the crackling anguish of its mood and the rustling grace of its scenery.' Boyd Tonkin, Independent
'Ian Holding comes from another world. He has courage and wide sympahties, and shows real literary promise when he eulogises the land he loves... Riveting'
Maggie Gee, THE TIMES
'Unfeeling is a searing attack on the brutality of the land redistribution policy that forced whites off their farms and helped to plunge the country into economic chaos. There's been nothing like it before, and certainly not from a Zimbabwean writer' The Scotsman
'Unfeeling is one of the season's best books.' Newsweek
'Much modern fiction is glossy but empty, but Ian Holding comes from another world . . . Holding's description of Dave's great trek, living the way that most black Zimbabweans do, is riveting' The Times
'[Holding's] work sings . . . Unreeling his story, he touches nerve after nerve, daring the reader into a mesmerized, sickened understanding of this unsettled land. As he does, we watch his characters' long-dead feelings gradually begin to flicker into a bloodied but unbowed return to life' The Herald
'Holding's riveting novel tackles the complex history of Zimbabwe's land struggle, focusing on recent violence towards white farmers, but encompassing the earlier brutal history of how white settlers came to monopolise the farmland in the first place' TIME OUT
'Delicately and darkly reveals what happens when old colonial white Africa teeters on the brink, adn when acts of brutality dehumanise both sides as they struggle for the land and the lives that both believe they were born to inherit' THE LEEDS GUIDE
'One of the season's best books' NEWSWEEK
'Fine characterization and sense of place meet tense, spare prose...' GUARDIAN
'An outstandingly gifted writer and a dauntingly brave one too ... Holding's novel is written with a devastating blend of control and anger.' David Robinson, SCOTSMAN
'Remarkable ... the novel's construction is a tour de force, a kind of narrative corkscrew ... gripping.' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
'His surefooted prose gives this novel a devastating punch ... a commanding picture of the land and nature as the ultimate power'
METRO
'Narrated in spare, unfaltering prose, the novel is freighted with a profound sense of foreboding ...' THE COURIER MAIL
'Riveting' TIME OUT
'Unfeeling is a visceral and compelling narrative about murder, racism and vengeance ... The novel has already been shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, an award given to 'the best young writer in the world.' You can expect to see Holding's name on future prize and bestseller lists'
THE EDMONTON JOURNAL
'A wonderful first novel ... The book is so brilliantly constructed and well written that I couldn't put it down. The story is harrowing, but not without humour, and the descriptions of the countryside are beautiful'
Alma Lee, in the GLOBE AND MAIL'S Best Books of the Year
'This is a chilling and suspenseful story with a surprise twist. You will be kept engaged, especially in the shifting time spaces that Ian Holding writes so brilliantly'
THE VANCOUVER SUN
'Holding's confident and measured prose rarely falters. He is especially strong on interior monologues and natural descriptions ... his narrative jumps around, making the novel seem at once seamless and jarring. This mirrors, in effect, the complex colonial history that Unfeeling examines.' THE OBSERVER
'Searingly powerful ... you'd have to be made of stone for this book to leave you "unfeeling" ...' MANAWATU STANDARD
'A brave and compelling story of brutality and human behaviour ...' NORTHERN ADVOCATE
'Narrated in spare, unfaltering prose, the novel is freighted with a profound sense of foreboding. Structured in rhythmical fragments ... Holding deftly builds a compelling story of a paradise lost.' Bron Sibree, THE COURIER MAIL
'Ian Holding has a sure feel for narrative ... this novel touches many bases with skill and assurance.' Nicholas Reid, SUNDAY STAR TIMES
'Only fiction could give us an account of Zimbabwe's current struggles as searing as this ... a depiction that is as convincing as it is tragic. The breakdown of society is painted with such garish colours of fury which non-fiction could not manage or get away with. A novel of such raw power ... where On the Road meets Gothic Horror burns an indelible impression of 21st-century rural Africa on the reader's mind.' Mike Crean, THE PRESS
'An authentic, accomplished literary debut in which a boy's dreams of eventually taking over the family farm are shattered when his parents are murdered. Sent to boarding school young Davey escapes and begins a harrowing journey across Africa. In a word: timely.' WEEKEND GOLD COAST BULLETIN
'This searingly powerful novel of loss and revenge in contemporary Zimbabwe introduces a new voice of real accomplishment.' GOOD READING MAGAZINE
'So powerfully does Zimbabwean-born author Ian Holding's debut novel Unfeeling connect with his country's recent history that he is being rightly lauded for his writing ability and his courage.' SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
'Brilliantly written ... This journey is told in harrowing fashion ... I found the savage beauty of the prose and the narrative compelling.' Jennifer Crocker
'Deftly humanist in its moral vision ... it's a fine work, its composition intricate. It describes, without trying to solve, a complex ethical and political dilemma. The novel rails against violent effects of unfeeling, and finds its solution in an ethics of care. Holding's achievement is to affirm this view without melodrama.' Prof. Michael Titlestad, SUNDAY TIMES SOUTH AFRICA
'The rhythm of the taut and angry language takes on a life of its own that grips the reader to the very last word.' Brian Joss TATLER
'Unfeeling goes where other novels will not tread. Holding attempts to lend greater understanding to Zimbabwe and a world of postcolonial disaster through his novel in a way that the evening news simply has not.' PEAK
'Unfeeling is not a problem in this harrowing novel ... it's a book I couldn't put down until the last screaming detail and whiplash surprise. It's ridiculously well-written, and such a complete, double-sided vision of Africa it practically sings its passionate love while documenting horrors I hope I can forget someday. For a reader who wants to understand Africa, the real, complex Africa, this book has it all. And that's just one of its pluses - as a first novel, this is a terrifying joy.' NOVELWORLD