The Old Drift
Zambia

The Old Drift

by Namwali Serpell

Family & Heritage Historical Fiction 2019

Summary

Beginning in 1904, near the magnificent Victoria Falls, The Old Drift follows three families whose lives become entangled across more than a century of Zambian history. It begins with a seemingly minor incident involving Percy M. Clark, a British settler, an Italian hotelier, and an African busboy—a mistake whose consequences ripple through generations. As the story unfolds, the families experience colonial rule, the struggle for independence, political upheaval, and the uncertainties of a rapidly changing modern world. Their histories are filled with forbidden love, betrayals, extraordinary ambitions, and unexpected connections. Serpell combines historical fiction with magical realism, folklore, romance, and science fiction, even imagining a future shaped by technological innovation and surveillance. The narrative itself is unconventional, narrated in part by a collective chorus of mosquitoes observing humanity’s follies. Ambitious, inventive, and richly layered, The Old Drift is both a multigenerational family saga and a meditation on how the past continues to shape the future of a nation. Through its interwoven lives, the novel explores the lasting legacies of colonialism, the complexity of national identity, and the unintended consequences of human actions.

Reviews

Login to leave a review.

No reviews yet. Be the first!

You might also like

Prodigal
Prodigal
Kayo Chingonyi
Patchwork
Patchwork
Ellen Banda-Aaku
Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is Another Way for Africa
Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is Another Way for Africa
Dambisa Moyo
Obligations to the Wounded
Obligations to the Wounded
Mubanga Kalimamukwento
Country
Zambia
Africa
About the author
Namwali Serpell
Namwali Serpell

Namwali Serpell (born 1980) is a Zambian-American novelist, essayist, and literary scholar, born in Lusaka, Zambia. She studied at Yale University and earned a PhD in English from Harvard University before pursuing an academic career. Her writing is known for its intellectual ambition, formal experimentation, and exploration of race, identity, technology, and the legacies of colonialism. Serpell first attracted international attention with her short story The Sack, which won the 2015 Caine Prize for African Writing. Her debut novel, The Old Drift (2019), established her as a major contemporary literary voice and received several prestigious awards, including the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Her later works include Stranger Faces, a collection of essays examining how we perceive unfamiliar faces and bodies, and The Furrows, a novel exploring grief and memory. Serpell is a professor of English at Harvard University, where her scholarship and creative work examine the possibilities of contemporary literature.

View author page
Details
Published
2019
Author
Namwali Serpell