"This novel follows the unexpected fall of Old Horse, the long-serving leader of a fictional country, and the drama that follows for a rumbustious nation of animals on the path to true liberation. Inspired by the unexpected ouster by coup in November 2017 of Robert G. Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president of nearly four decades, this novel shows a country's imploding, narrated by a chorus of animal voices that unveil the ruthlessness required to uphold the illusion of absolute power and the imagination and bulletproof optimism to overthrow it completely. By immersing readers in the daily lives of a population in upheaval, Bulawayo reveals the dazzling life force and irrepressible wit that lie barely concealed beneath the surface of seemingly bleak circumstances. At the center of this tumult is Destiny, a young goat who returns to Jidada to bear witness to revolution--and to recount the unofficial history and the potential legacy of the females who have quietly pulled the strings. The animal kingdom--its connection to our primal responses and resonance in the mythology, folktales, and fairy tales that define cultures the world over--unmasks the surreality of contemporary global politics to help us understand our world more clearly, even as Bulwayo plucks us right out of it. Although Zimbabwe is the immediate inspiration for this thrilling story, this novel was written in a time of global clamor, with resistance movements across the world challenging different forms of oppression. Thus it often feels like Bulawayo captures several places in one blockbuster allegory, crystallizing a turning point in history with the texture and nuance that only the greatest fiction can."--