Sue Nyathi’s An Angel’s Demise is a multi-generational epic that uses the life of one woman, Angel Velile Williams, as a lens through which to view the tumultuous history of Zimbabwe from the late colonial era through the liberation struggle, the horrors of Gukurahundi, and the chaotic land reform program of the early 2000s. The narrative is structured as a “Genesis” and an “Afterlife,” moving between the protagonist’s present-day imprisonment in 2008 and the historical events that shaped her existence. The Prologue: Purgatory in the High Court The novel begins in May 2008 at the High Court in Harare. The protagonist, Mrs. Angel Ngozi (the “General’s wife”), has been held in solitary confinement for thirty days, a “purgatory” where she has begun talking to cockroaches and spiders to maintain her sanity. She is a “Class-D” prisoner, considered a high flight risk, and her physical appearance shorn hair, jaded green prison frock, and black plastic flip-flops is a stark contrast to her former life of Brazilian hair, Gucci sunglasses, and Chanel suits. Angel has been subjected to regular beatings in the middle of the night by police sent by her husband, leaving scars on her back and the soles of her…
