Book Review: The Garden Of Burning Sand by Corban Addison

The Garden Of Burning Sand by Corban Addison is my favourite novel of the year so far… and I so very nearly didn’t read it.  Initially I thought it was going to be too heavy for my tastes, but I am so pleased I dipped into this book because it reinforced my conviction that to do nothing  is failure, whereas to do something, no matter how little, is success. (read more)


The Garden of Burning Sand is a Legal Thriller set in Lusaka, Zambia. 

Apart from having a beautiful title and enthralling plot, it gets to the heart of child abuse and the importance of humanitarian aid and individuals being proactive in the struggle to protect these children.   It is  compulsive reading and Addison very definitely pulls you along with very little coaxing as the story unfolds and takes us from Lusaka to the countryside and the past.  He paints two pictures of Zambia; Firstly, of this beautiful country of extremes and people with heart,  and secondly of a country trying to claw itself away from an AID/HIV epidemic, corrupt and ineffectual justice system and those who suffer most- the orphaned children.

Zoe Fleming is a human right’s lawyer working to prosecute those guilty of Child Abuse.  Joseph Kabuta is in the Zambian Police Force and working to the same ends as Zoe.  When a young orphaned girl with Downs Syndrome is brutally raped and dumped, Zoe and Joseph are determined to find and prosecute the rapist.

In Zambian law they must prove the girl is legally a child before they can prosecute the rapist.  This leads to a double pronged investigation which takes them from Lusaka and into the country to trace the girl’s family and her journey to the capital city, as well tracing the Rapist from the meagre clues available.

From this book my conviction that to do nothing because of the magnitude of the task is failure, whereas to do something, no matter how little or whether successful or not is Progress was reinforced