The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam

Author Lauren Liebenberg grew up in Rhodesia and left the country soon after it was renamed Zimbabwe, when President Robert Mugabe came into power after a long war for independence from what was a British Crown Colony.

The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam is an emotional rollercoaster of a journey – it is the story of two small sisters growing up in Rhodesia when the country was on the cusp of change. Nyree and Cia live on a remote farm with their mother who has to keep everything at home functioning, constantly fighting back the jungle and keeping the farm going while their once grand home gently decays around them, and their father is off fighting the mysterious ‘Terrs’.

The sisters’ grandfather, Oupa, and their African farmhand, Jobe between them contribute lectures and stories that mix both mangled Catholicism and African paganism to the girls’ confusing, yet weirdly familiar, upbringing.

Liebenberg‘s description of the surrounding jungle brings poetry and lushness to the mix, yet even when the story comes to its shocking conclusion, you can’t help feeling that perhaps this book would have had more to say if it had been three times as long – you are left wanting more of the history of the country, the background of the family and the story of the cousin who comes to stay and has such a huge influence on the girls’ lives.

The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam is published by Virago and costs £7.99.

Tags: RC Book Club