DIZZY WORMS

For 25 years MICHAEL HOLMAN reported on the continent for the Financial Times, and continues to visit regularly. Brought up in Gwelo, Rhodesia (now Gweru, Zimbabwe), he took his first degree at the University of Rhodesia before he taking up a place at Edinburgh University, where he completed an MSc in Politics. From 1977 to 1984 he was based in Lusaka, Zambia, for the Financial Times as the paper’s Africa correspondent; he moved to London in 1984 when he became the FT’s Africa editor. In 2002 he took early retirement to write books. His first novel, Last Orders at Harrods, was published in 2005, the sequel, Fatboy and the Dancing Ladies followed in 2007.

Michael Holman lives in London, and writes for a range of papers in the UK, Kenya and South Africa; Dizzy Worms completes the Kuwisha trilogy. He is currently working on a play – Missing Apartheid.

Praise for Last Orders at Harrods and Fatboy and the
Dancing Ladies

“It is not easy to write a novel which combines humour with an understanding of the serious issues facing contemporary Africa. In this delightful novel, Michael Holman, a writer who has for many years commented on African affairs to a world-wide readership, has produced a book which is not only an entertaining and amusing read but also a profound comment on the political and economic landscape of Africa. The style is engaging, the characters lively, and the end result is a superb novel born of years of engagement with Africa.”

Alexander McCall Smith,

author of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

“Charity Mupanga is an African heroine in the spirit of Alexander McCall Smith’s Precious Ramotswe – big hearted, township-wise and self-reliant.”

Peter Godwin,

author of Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa

“In this satirical feast, Holman hits his mark every time as he exposes the humbug and also the humanity of life in modern Africa. With a Dickensian cast of characters in the troubled nation of Kuwisha and a plot worthy of Waugh, this is a cracking fictional debut . . . Full of humour, hometruths – and anger simmering beneath it all – this is a book that must be read.”

Aidan Hartley, author of Zanzibar Chest

“Capable of far more than gentle humour . . . he weaves critical comments on foreign aid into an entertaining plot involving young Ferdinand Mlambo, dismissed from his job as houseboy at Kuwisha’s state house.”

Financial Times

“Very funny, very educational satire . . . fast-paced tale of absurd organisational chaos. As corrupt politicians, squabbling aid agencies and wellmeaning celebrities all jostle for power, the citizens of Kuwisha’s worst slum get on as best they can with the business of daily life.”

Sydney Morning Herald

“Holman writes some of the most insightful novels about Africa today.”

BBC Radio 4