A Whistling Girl: 2nd Edition

(Paperback)

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It's the 1950s, and in Southern Rhodesia, rebellious Nicole (Nick) Doughty grows up against the backdrop of a rapidly-changing worldthe crowning of Queen Elizabeth II, Dwight Eisenhower's presidential bid in the U.S., and the end of the Korean War. And while these events will go on to shape the history of the mid-20th century, closer to home, Nick must deal with the pains of growing up, family relationships, and biases of race, gender, and sexual preference.

It all begins when Nick secretly watches a bicycle thief flogged at the local Police Station. The thief catches sight of her and Nick senses he has put a curse on her. She buries some teeth at the base of the Hissing Tree to grow a warrior for protection. When she witnesses the gauzy spectre unfurl, she's convinced the warrior has come to help. But the ghostly fighter has a big job on its hands . . .As a member of the Black Mamba gang, Nick is at odds with its leader, Jannie, whose jealousy of her culminates in a "test of courage" to take place the following night in the cemetery.

The night before the test, Nick listens to the BBC World Service on the radio: the journalist Sarah Bridgeworthy has gone missing en route to cover the Mau Mau in Kenya. Nick determines to find out what happened to her. . . What follows is a twisting path of superstition, mystery, danger and even death as Nick comes to terms with her family, herself and the world around her. This intense, exuberant story with stay with readers long after the final page is turned.

Reviews

Global Rating -- Top review from United Kingdom

Brendan Donaghy
5.0 out of 5 stars Memorable Characters
Reviewed Amazon U.K. 24 July 2020

I loved this book from start to finish. It's set in 1952 in Sauersville, a poor district of Bulawayo in what used to be Southern Rhodesia. The story is told from the point-of-view of eleven-year-old Nicole ('Nick') Doughty, an unconventional kid who lives with her parents and two younger brothers. It's a coming-of-age tale, beautifully told. Nola Schiff provides us with memorable characters and strong storylines in which childhood concerns are mixed with adult issues. All that plus a beautiful African landscape as a backdrop! Readers who like character-driven historical fiction and/or memoirs will appreciate this book.

'Author creates an adventurous protagonist that girls can relate to--'
A Whistling Girl describes the boisterous exploits of a rebellious young girl longing for a real adventure, 'like Jim Hawkins or Kim, or Huck Finn...why don't they write stories like that for girls' Nicole Doughty's African adventures take place in a British colony at a time when violent and revolutionary change is soon to erupt across the continent of Africa.

Author Bio

Nola Schiff was born in Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and spent her childhood in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
1959 Left Africa for London. After a brief stint in the theatre, she joined the BBC and trained as vision mixer and film editor.
Sound researcher/editor for the Emmy award winning series The World at War for Thames Television U.K.
Re-located to New York in 1978 and became a US citizen.
MFA Creative Writing-Vermont College in 2001
The Hissing Tree-first novel completed in 2007/8.
Nature Ramble, 1998 (Finalist, Stand Magazine Short Story Competition, U.K.)
Haiti Brief-essay published in Projected Letters 2004
The Favourshort fiction published in Solstice Lit Mag. 2016
Revised The Hissing Tree and republished it as A Whistling Girl.
Now at work on a short story collection working title: Bundu.