Call and Response

‘A good short story is a bit of alchemy, showing us so much in so few pages. Gothataone Moeng’s debut collection does this over and over.’ Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind

A young widow has worn the same mourning clothes for almost a year. But her act of remembrance has become her shield against the world, a world she isn’t sure she is willing to re-enter.

Meanwhile, a teenage girl shies away from the room where her once vibrant aunt lies dying. Torn between her duty to her family and her desire to find her own way in the world, she neglects her nursing duties and goes in search of freedom. But this freedom will come at a cost…

Elsewhere, a younger sister knows the price she’ll have to pay if she fails to conceal her sexual exploits. But as her brother flaunts his own infidelity, she starts to question the double standards that her family take for granted…

Gothataone Moeng’s unforgettable stories transport us to contemporary Botswana, where women are navigating the competing pulls of independence and family ties, love and opportunity. Suffused with beauty and humour, bringing to life the culture of contemporary Botswana, Call and Response explores the clash between tradition and modernity, ancestral expectations and imported dreams.