You know how sometimes you pick up a book and think it will be just another easy read? An Invitation to Eavesdrop by Ivwananji Simukoko isn’t that. It’s the kind of book that sneaks up on you, pulls you into someone’s mind, and doesn’t let you go until you’ve felt everything, the hope, the regret, the frustration, and the heartbreak.
The story follows a man who’s caught between two worlds, the life he’s carefully built and the life that could have been if he had just reached a little further. It’s not a fairytale love story. It is messy. It’s honest. It’s painful. And that’s what makes it so good.
Set mostly around Zambia’s Copperbelt, with stops in Lusaka, Choma, and Ndola, the book paints these places not just as backgrounds but as living, breathing characters. You can almost feel the dusty hotel rooms, hear the faint mining blasts underground, and sense the tension between the old dreams and the harsh present.
What really stood out for me is how real the emotions are. It’s not the big dramatic moments that break you. It’s the quiet ones. The unanswered calls. The things left unsaid. The slow realization that sometimes you do not lose people because of some huge betrayal, but because you were too scared to choose them when it mattered.
Ivwananji writes like someone who’s lived through what he’s describing. There’s no sugarcoating. No perfect heroes. Just people trying and failing to be better.
If you have ever found yourself wondering “what if?”, An Invitation to Eavesdrop will hit you right in the gut. It’s a raw, beautiful book about love, loss, and learning to live with the choices we make or do not make.
Highly recommend if you are into books that leave you thinking about them for days after.
“It is 347 pages of Zambian realism. The story is narrated in the first person by a young man who blossoms at UNZA, discovers himself in London, and struggles to love. Zambian ARTS Publishing House produced it.” Anna Zgambo describes it.
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