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Longlisted for the 2026 Dublin Literary Award!
Stupendous African Gothic, by the winner of Yale University’s Windham–Campbell Prize
Showcasing African Gothic at its finest, The Creation of Half-Broken People is the extraordinary tale of a nameless woman plagued by visions. She works for the Good Foundation and its museum filled with artifacts from the family’s exploits in Africa, the Good family members all being descendants of Captain John Good, of King Solomon’s Mines fame.
Our heroine is happy with her association with the Good family, until one day she comes across a group of protestors outside the museum. Instigating the group is an ancient woman, who our heroine knows is not real. She knows too that the secrets of her past have returned. After this encounter, the nameless woman finds herself living first in an attic and then in a haunted castle, her life anything but normal as her own intangible inheritance unfolds through the women who inhabit her visions.
With a knowing nod to classics of the Gothic genre, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu weaves the threads of a complex colonial history into the present through people “half-broken” by the stigmas of race and mental illness, all the while balancing the humanity of her characters against the cruelty of empire in a hypnotic, haunting account of love and magic.
“This is a writer who should make everyone sit up.” —Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland
“Ndlovu sustains a vivid gothic style while providing unflinching commentary on the abuses of British colonialism. This is a revelation.” — Publisher’s Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“An essential addition to the growing gothic canon!” — Crime Reads
“Mesmerizing! The Creation of Half-Broken People will transport you on a haunting journey to the heart of what makes us human.” —Shubnum Khan, author of The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil and Onion Tears
“Ndlovu richly deserves her place in the African pantheon of storytellers. This is a spectacular work of research and an intimate tale about the corrosive effects of colonialism and conquest.” —Rémy Ngamije, author of The Eternal Audience of One and Only Stars Know the Meaning of Space
“An extraordinary reinvention of colonial and patriarchal perspectives … Ndlovu balances the humanity of her characters against the cruelty of empire, making for a spellbinding and literally haunting account of love and magic.” — The Namibian
“Outstanding.” — Book Browse