One Sunday morning in her suburban home in Connecticut, Wendy Kann received a phone call: her youngest sister, Lauren, had been killed on a lonely road in southern Africa. With that news, Kann is summoned back to the territory of her youth in what is now Zimbabwe. The girls' privileged colonial childhood, a rural life of mansions and servants, is devastated by their father's premature death, their mother's insanity, and the onset of civil war. Kann soon leaves Africa, marries an American, and has finally settled into the dry sophistication of life in the States when her sister's death calls her back.

With honesty and compassion, Kann pieces together her sister's life, explores the heartbreak of loss and the struggle to belong, and finally discovers a new, more complicated meaning of home.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 12 reviews)

SAD AND GENTLE!

"Late Sunday afternoons, when our father eventually arrived to pick us up I usually felt as though I'd been through a war myself. I would grab my already packed bag and hurry to the safe red leather of his car interior to wait for him and my sisters there. Soon after Sharon would follow me, straggling behind with underpants and flip-flops falling out of her suitcase, complaining, "Wait man Wend." She flounced in next to me. "Why do you always have to be in such a hurry hey?"

I was very eager for this book when I saw it advertised on Amazon. This story centers around Wendy, Sharon and Lauren Khan who grew up in Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe. It was a very touching book with three very close sisters who survived their dysfunctional family and then after they had passed on, had each other. Wendy Khan relates a well-told story though sad in many instances; their loyalty to each other strengthens their family ties. The blow is felt however when the smallest sister Lauren faces tragedy and this brings Wendy back from American where she has migrated, to meet up with Sharon as they gather in Zambia, Lauren's home. There is a lot of love in this story as well as passion and some disappointment in the family. But when all is said and done, I would recommend this novel to all readers. It is well written and it should be a great present for someone's birthday or any such occasion.
Those of you who love Africa, please read this book.
Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar ( SUGAR-CANE 07/03/08)

March 07, 2008

Awe-inspiring

Wendy Kann's personal and political history in "Casting with a fragile thread" is riveting, wise and timeless. It is a gripping memoir about a woman who has risen above her traumatic childhood and turned her pain into compassion and healing.
Born in colonial Rhodesia--now Zimbabwe--Kann grew up during the country's 13-year civil war. She experienced the first elections in Zimbabwe in 1980 and lived in Hong Kong when the British officials handed the city over to the Chinese in 1997. She said both experiences were nagging reminders that the laws, police, media, army and government can bring bewildering uncertainty to a safe, predictable orderly world.
She writes poetically about her environment--how the lawns in America's neighborhoods simply roll trustingly one into the next, without the rude division of fences and gates.
Having spent my early years in South Africa I too had my "mind revolt against the terrifying avalanche of choice" and tried to figure what "American" was and how I could be "just that."
Kann's observation years later about Rhodesia's civil war is a warning to all countries. She said, "No one in my generation recognized that we were fighting a war to preserve an unsustainable way of life."
Her quote reminded me of America. We have the technology for alternative fuel yet we remain in a war in the Middle East because of an addiction to oil, a non-renewable resource.

February 17, 2007

quietly beautiful memoir

deeply moving and honest, ms. kann's memoir vividly evokes a complicated time and place in africa with a story of familial love, loyalty and loss.gorgeous. highly recommend.
November 05, 2006

A vivid story of death, rebirth, and cultural discovery

Casting With A Fragile Thread: A Story Of Sisters And Africa tells of the mother of three children who left her Rhodesia childhood behind fifteen years earlier to settle into a new life in America and escape her country's upheaval. When she receives a call that her youngest sister has been killed in Zambia, she returns to her native Africa to find a new sense of purpose. A vivid story of death, rebirth, and cultural discovery evolves.
September 11, 2006

Life in Rhodesia and the USA

Not qualified to review:
Author is my daughter-in-law
Walter Kann
August 08, 2006

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa
by Peter Godwin

Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa
by Peter Godwin

Rainbow's End: A Memoir of Childhood, War and an African Farm
by Lauren St John

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood
by Alexandra Fuller

Where We Have Hope: A Memoir of Zimbabwe
by Andrew Meldrum