THE LIONS’ DEN

Author: Iris Mwanza

Publisher: Canongate

Reviewer: Nancy Richards

This book gave me the feeling of just having watched a Netflix courtroom drama – but then again, maybe not. Because the reality is that it goes way beyond the wig-and-gown world to expose some disturbingly deep-rooted attitudes – from police, politicians and in some cases, people themselves, in the Zambia of the 90’s. As such it’s something of a lesson in the country’s recent history with sharply painted sketches of both real life and fictious characters. Clearly it’s a world, or worlds, with which the author is familiar – from village field to graduation hall and gay bar, church pew to court room, prison cell to AIDS hospital bed. Iris Mwanza knows her material. Having studied and worked in law in both Zambia and the US, she’s currently Deputy Director of Women in Leadership in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Gender Equality Division. No surprise then that she specifically highlights the challenging environment her female protagonist Grace operates in. Escaping an arranged marriage to an ageing polygamist, fighting for her right to an education, fighting for right in general and justice in particular for a young homosexual in a country where, then and now, ‘unbiblical’ carnal acts that go against the ‘order of nature’ are abominated and heavily punishable. What is surprising though, for a corporate lawyer, is that young Grace Zulu is also a ‘wamizimu’ described as ‘someone with the powers of direct connection to the ancestors.’ The Lion’s Den is certainly the page-turner it’s cracked up to be, clawing its way through a whole jungle of social issues, not necessarily exclusive to 90’s Zambia, with, in my opinion, both style and sensitivity.