Heaven and Hell in Africa--in GuleWamkulu-The Big Dance Author remembers Zambia

Winifred McCaffrey offers a romantic, creative memoir that reads like a novel. Imagine...beating drums, croaking frogs, lingering sunsets, dancing stars, lush gardens, smiling zambians..expatriates in love; imagine, too, thievery, bombing, best friend's murder and poverty as Zambia's Humanism supports Zimbabwe's Independence battle. Manic depression encapsulates anthropologist husband. AIDS arrives

February 9, 2004--Author Remembers High and Lows of Living in Africa in New Creative Memoir.

Winifred McCaffrey remembers a nice garden and a beautiful little home in an exotic land, where bombs tumble from the sky. She recalls time spent amidst revolution at the university and with the people of Zambia in her new book, Gule Wamkulu-The Big Dance, a creative memoir based on real-life experiences.

McCaffrey offers a romantic, creative memoir that reads like a novel. Through her alter ego, Mary, she tells the story of a California expatriate couple's experiences in a Zambia committed to supporting Zimbabwe's battle for independence. It is a Saturday morning when Mary wakes to find her bi-polar, brilliant professor husband, Michael, clutching a letter. The contents include an invitation to Zambia, where a position at the university awaits him. After some deliberation, he accepts. He and Mary arrive in this strange new world, falling instantly in love with the people, their garden and their little house.
What seems like paradise, however, quickly changes into hell. As Zambia enters into conflict, assisting Zimbabwe's struggle for independence, Michael's manic depression begins to weigh heavily on his mind. Bombs fall, and murders rampant, the gifted anthropologist searcing every specter of political innuendo leads to his undoing. While Mary thrives in her enjoyment of the Zambian people, Michael, striving to help these people rise about their plight, loses his sanity. The war comes to a head, AIDS creeps into the area and their marriage, once sturdy with their love, collapses. Mary leaves her husband and the people she loves behind.

An intoxicating insight into the minds of the gifted and the culture of the Zambian people, Gule Wamkulu is an influential memoir written in a fresh, alluring style.

McCaffrey has lived in both Africa and South America. She now lives in the San Francisco Bay area, where she enjoys the culture it has to offer. She has been published in various academic journals, but Gule Wamkulu-The Big Dance is her first book. For more information, visit www.GuleWamkuluBigDance.com. To order, telephone 1st Books at 888 280-7715