https://twitter.com/CazApr1/status/1011564971162062848?s=19 Raced through Hope is Our Only Wing by Rutendo Tavengerwei. A growing friendship, grief, family relationships & money worries, set in the really interesting & difficult recent history of Zimbabwe. Great characters & well paced...& hopeful! @HotKeyBooks https://t.co/L78F4Tq0qY

This book was so sad! Right from the start it dealt with issues that are familiar, Cancer, grief, in a country that is very different, one that's struggling with it's economy. Zimbabwe is not a country I know that well, so it was really interesting to see it and to feel the issues on a personal level, with the characters caught up in it all.

The characters were easy to relate to. Shamiso was having to get used to living in Zimbabwe, having to leave all of her friends behind. Her friendship with Tanyaradzwa was interesting, seeing her push her away so much even though Tanyaradzwa had just as much reason not to pursue a relationship.

The mystery was good, but I didn't really get into it that much. I don't know why but I just didn't really care that much about how it turned out. I don't often get that way about mysteries.

It was still a good book though. I enjoyed reading it. If anything, it was a bit short and it maybe would have grabbed my attention more if it was longer and the story was more complex.

Hope is our only Wing is set in Zimbabwe and takes place over a few weeks from January 2008.

Shamiso is a 15 year old who has recently moved from the UK to her parent's home country of Zimbabwe following her father's sudden death. Tanyaradzwa is a girl she meets at her new school who is undergoing treatment for cancer.

This is a fairly simple novel and is aimed and teenagers/ young adults. It touches on topics such as corruption, poverty, rolling blackouts and food shortages, music, hospitals, teachers strikes. It manages to interweave a number of issues affecting Zimbabweans into the narrative in a way that feels natural.

The author says at the start of the book that she wanted to portray the feeling of hope felt by the people of her home country despite any hardships they were experiencing. I think the novel did this very well and felt very positive overall.

I'd give it 3.5 stars but rounded it up to 4 stars on here as, although I didn't love the book, I do feel it was well written and I would recommend it to younger readers. I think I am a good few years older than the target audience and didn't overly connect with the characters.