The terrible thing that steals 14-year-old Mvelo’s song leads to startling revelations and unexpected opportunities. Life wasn’t always this hard for 14-year-old Mvelo. There were good times living with her mother, Zola and Sipho, her mother’s lawyer boyfriend. Now her mother is dying of AIDS and what happened to Mvelo is the elephant in the room, despite its growing presence in their small shack. In this Shakespeare-style comedy, the things that seem to be are only a façade and the things that are revealed hand Mvelo a golden opportunity to change her fate. Do Not Go Gentle explores both humour and tragedy in this modern-day fairy tale set in the shacks on the margins of Mkhumbane township, outside Pietermaritzburg.
In her second novel, Futhi Ntshingila once again introduces us to a cast of strong women who have little, but are determined to shape their own destinies.
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The Brazilian edition of
Do Not Go Gentle was published in Portuguese by Dublinense as
Sem Gentileza. The North American edition was published by Catalyst Press in English as
We Kiss Them With Rain. The Portuguese edition was also published in in Mozambique by Editora Trinta Zero Nove as
Não vai tão docilmente. The French edition was first published by Belleville Editions as
Enrage Contre la Mort de la Lumiere. In 2022 it has been published as a French mass-market paperback company
10/18.
