Scars on My Conscience

When Henry Fielding published Tom Jones, a Foundling in 1749, some reviewers and readers accused the book of causing an earthquake. The quake in question shook Wimborne in Dorset, England on 17 May that year, and measured an estimated at 3.4 on the Richter Scale. Some said the book was a vile piece of literature; others said it was outrageous, vicious, immoral, tragic, and used all manner of other condemnations. All felt that it attempted to disturb, upset, muddy, or undo the social order of the time.Scars on My Conscience follows the life of Raymond, beginning with him as a boy from a rural village and following his transitions to high school and on to his training as a guerrilla. We witness his various experiences in training and then on the war front, and follow him into independence as a young soldier, then right to the present – when the reality of the futility of the revolution comes into focus.The intention of Scars on My Conscience is not to muddy the waters. Instead, it seeks to record feelings, emotions, and the vast moiety of life circumstances through its narrative: from the starry-eyed youngster joining the liberation war; the shock, hurt, successes, and pitfalls of executing the liberation war; right up to the disappointments of failing to fulfil the aspirations behind the 1970s liberation of Zimbabwe as envisaged by the nation's freedom fighters.