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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

A stunning memoir that transforms our understanding of a generation born at a key turning point in world history

In my home country, they call me a ‘bornfree’.

Simukai Chigudu was one of the first generation to be born after the end of colonial rule in Zimbabwe. Growing up he heard stories about his grandfather’s murder by the Rhodesian regime, how his father had been imprisoned and tortured as a student before joining the bloody war of independence as a guerilla, and how his mother had thrown off the strictures of the past to build a successful career helping other women do the same. Yet Simukai’s early life was also steeped in British tradition. With his classmates he sang English folk songs, read Shakespeare, played cricket.

Then, in 2002, he was one of thousands to leave the country as it descended into political violence and economic collapse. His new home: a boarding school in the north of England. What followed was a culture shock that unravelled his understanding of the world, his family and himself.

Chasing Freedom is his profound and remarkably moving story – that of a boy shaped through his parents’ buried trauma by the great currents of late-twentieth century history. It is the story of a family haunted by the cause of liberation, and of a new generation, still searching for their promised freedom.

‘Remarkable . . . a work of real power and beauty’ AMIA SRINIVASAN, author of The Right to Sex

'Intimate and epic' SATHNAM SANGHERA, author of Empireland

‘Utterly captivating . . . told with such clarity and precision that I forgot I was reading’ DINA NAYERI, author of The Ungrateful Refugee

‘Will teach you more about the legacies of colonialism than a hundred op-eds or a dozen textbooks’ SATHNAM SANGHERA, author of Empireland

‘Simukai Chigudu writes compellingly, lucidly and beautifully . . . an eye-opener’ ZEINAB BADAWI, author of An African History of Africa

© Simukai Chigudu 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Critics Review

A fascinating memoir, both intimate and epic, which will teach you more about the legacies of colonialism than a hundred op-eds, or a dozen textbooks
Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland
In this remarkable memoir, Simukai Chigudu unravels the meanings – both world-historical and personal – of colonialism, history and liberation. Chasing Freedom is a work of real power and beauty, as well as disarming truthfulness
Amia Srinivasan, author of The Right to Sex
Utterly captivating. Chasing Freedom is a finely observed, gripping account of growing up in Zimbabwe and building a life in Britain, told with such clarity and precision that I forgot I was reading
Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee
A complicated, engrossing and, ultimately, brilliant portrait of a family navigating the minefields of the postcolonial world
Jonny Steinberg, author of Winnie and Nelson
Simukai Chigudu writes compellingly, lucidly and beautifully, weaving together his personal and family experiences with the history of his native Zimbabwe. An eye-opener
Zeinab Badawi, author of An African History of Africa
Deeply personal and moving. An unflinching account of the search for self amid the burdens of the past
Peter Godwin, author of When a Crocodile Eats the Sun
Simukai Chigudu seamlessly blends the history of African colonization and the jagged paths to independence with the story of his remarkable family. It is also the story of those for whom these massive global transformations were mere backdrops for growing up across continents and cultures
Louis Chude-Sokei, author of Floating In a Most Peculiar Way
Masterful. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the ways in which the legacies of empire ricochet through the generations
Aminatta Forna, author of The Devil That Danced on the Water

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