Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
Love in the Driest Season by Neely Tucker
Add Love in the Driest Season to bookshelf
Add to Bookshelf

Look Inside | Reading Guide

Love in the Driest Season

A Family Memoir

A Family Memoir

A Family Memoir

A Family Memoir

By Neely Tucker

By Neely Tucker

By Neely Tucker

By Neely Tucker

By Neely Tucker
Read by Neely Tucker

By Neely Tucker
Read by Neely Tucker

By Neely Tucker
Read by Michael Kramer

By Neely Tucker
Read by Michael Kramer

Best Seller
Paperback $18.00

Apr 05, 2005 | ISBN 9781400081608

Ebook $4.99

Feb 17, 2004 | ISBN 9781400080809

Audiobook Download $12.95

Feb 17, 2004 | 330 Minutes

Audiobook Download $17.95

Dec 09, 2003 | 476 Minutes

All Formats
+
    Love in the Driest Season by Neely Tucker
    Paperback $18.00
    Apr 05, 2005 | ISBN 9781400081608

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    See All Formats (3) +
    • $18.00

      Apr 05, 2005 | ISBN 9781400081608

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Feb 17, 2004 | ISBN 9781400080809

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Feb 17, 2004 | ISBN 9780739310724

      330 Minutes

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Dec 09, 2003 | ISBN 9781415902370

      476 Minutes

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About Love in the Driest Season

    In 1997 foreign correspondent Neely Tucker and his wife, Vita, arrived in Zimbabwe. After witnessing the devastating consequences of AIDS and economic disaster on the country’s children, the couple started volunteering at an orphanage where a critically ill infant, abandoned in a field on the day she was born, was trusted to their care. Within weeks, Chipo, the baby girl whose name means “gift,” would come to mean everything to them. Their decision to adopt her, however, would challenge an unspoken social norm: that foreigners should never adopt Zimbabwean children. Against a background of war, terrorism, disease, and unbearable uncertainty about the future, Chipo’s true story emerges as an inspiring testament to the miracles that love—and dogged determination—can sometimes achieve.

    About Love in the Driest Season

    Foreign correspondent Neely Tucker and his wife, Vita, arrived in Zimbabwe in 1997. After witnessing firsthand the devastating consequences of AIDS on the population, especially the children, the couple started volunteering at an orphanage that was desperately underfunded and short-staffed. One afternoon, a critically ill infant was brought to the orphanage from a village outside the city. She’d been left to die in a field on the day she was born, abandoned in the tall brown grass that covers the highlands of Zimbabwe in the dry season. After a near-death hospital stay, and under strict doctor’s orders, the ailing child was entrusted to the care of Tucker and Vita. Within weeks Chipo, the girl-child whose name means gift, would come to mean everything to them.

    Still an active correspondent, Tucker crisscrossed the continent, filing stories about the uprisings in the Congo, the civil war in Sierra Leone, and the postgenocidal conflict in Rwanda. He witnessed heartbreaking scenes of devastation and violence, steeling him further to take a personal role in helping anywhere he could. At home in Harare, Vita was nursing Chipo back to health. Soon she and Tucker decided to alter their lives forever—they would adopt Chipo. That decision challenged an unspoken social norm—that foreigners should never adopt Zimbabwean children.

    Raised in rural Mississippi in the sixties and seventies, Tucker was familiar with the mores associated with and dictated by race. His wife, a savvy black woman whose father escaped the Jim Crow South for a new life in the industrial North, would not be deterred in her resolve to welcome Chipo into their loving family.

    As if their situation wasn’t tenuous enough, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was stirring up national fervor against foreigners, especially journalists, abroad and at home. At its peak, his antagonizing branded all foreign journalists personae non grata. For Tucker, the only full-time American correspondent in Zimbabwe, the declaration was a direct threat to his life and his wife’s safety, and an ultimatum to their decision to adopt the child who had already become their only daughter.

    Against a background of war, terrorism, disease, and unbearable uncertainty about the future, Chipo’s story emerges as an inspiring testament to the miracles that love—and dogged determination—can sometimes achieve. Gripping, heartbreaking, and triumphant, this family memoir will resonate throughout the ages.

    About Love in the Driest Season

    Foreign correspondent Neely Tucker and his wife, Vita, arrived in Zimbabwe in 1997. After witnessing firsthand the devastating consequences of AIDS on the population, especially the children, the couple started volunteering at an orphanage that was desperately underfunded and short-staffed. One afternoon, a critically ill infant was brought to the orphanage from a village outside the city. She’d been left to die in a field on the day she was born, abandoned in the tall brown grass that covers the highlands of Zimbabwe in the dry season. After a near-death hospital stay, and under strict doctor’s orders, the ailing child was entrusted to the care of Tucker and Vita. Within weeks Chipo, the girl-child whose name means gift, would come to mean everything to them.

    Still an active correspondent, Tucker crisscrossed the continent, filing stories about the uprisings in the Congo, the civil war in Sierra Leone, and the postgenocidal conflict in Rwanda. He witnessed heartbreaking scenes of devastation and violence, steeling him further to take a personal role in helping anywhere he could. At home in Harare, Vita was nursing Chipo back to health. Soon she and Tucker decided to alter their lives forever—they would adopt Chipo. That decision challenged an unspoken social norm—that foreigners should never adopt Zimbabwean children.

    Raised in rural Mississippi in the sixties and seventies, Tucker was familiar with the mores associated with and dictated by race. His wife, a savvy black woman whose father escaped the Jim Crow South for a new life in the industrial North, would not be deterred in her resolve to welcome Chipo into their loving family.

    As if their situation wasn’t tenuous enough, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was stirring up national fervor against foreigners, especially journalists, abroad and at home. At its peak, his antagonizing branded all foreign journalists personae non grata. For Tucker, the only full-time American correspondent in Zimbabwe, the declaration was a direct threat to his life and his wife’s safety, and an ultimatum to their decision to adopt the child who had already become their only daughter.

    Against a background of war, terrorism, disease, and unbearable uncertainty about the future, Chipo’s story emerges as an inspiring testament to the miracles that love—and dogged determination—can sometimes achieve. Gripping, heartbreaking, and triumphant, this family memoir will resonate throughout the ages.

    About Love in the Driest Season

    Foreign correspondent Neely Tucker and his wife, Vita, arrived in Zimbabwe in 1997. After witnessing firsthand the devastating consequences of AIDS on the population, especially the children, the couple started volunteering at an orphanage that was desperately underfunded and short-staffed. One afternoon, a critically ill infant was brought to the orphanage from a village outside the city. She’d been left to die in a field on the day she was born, abandoned in the tall brown grass that covers the highlands of Zimbabwe in the dry season. After a near-death hospital stay, and under strict doctor’s orders, the ailing child was entrusted to the care of Tucker and Vita. Within weeks Chipo, the girl-child whose name means gift, would come to mean everything to them.

    Still an active correspondent, Tucker crisscrossed the continent, filing stories about the uprisings in the Congo, the civil war in Sierra Leone, and the postgenocidal conflict in Rwanda. He witnessed heartbreaking scenes of devastation and violence, steeling him further to take a personal role in helping anywhere he could. At home in Harare, Vita was nursing Chipo back to health. Soon she and Tucker decided to alter their lives forever—they would adopt Chipo. That decision challenged an unspoken social norm—that foreigners should never adopt Zimbabwean children.

    Raised in rural Mississippi in the sixties and seventies, Tucker was familiar with the mores associated with and dictated by race. His wife, a savvy black woman whose father escaped the Jim Crow South for a new life in the industrial North, would not be deterred in her resolve to welcome Chipo into their loving family.

    As if their situation wasn’t tenuous enough, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was stirring up national fervor against foreigners, especially journalists, abroad and at home. At its peak, his antagonizing branded all foreign journalists personae non grata. For Tucker, the only full-time American correspondent in Zimbabwe, the declaration was a direct threat to his life and his wife’s safety, and an ultimatum to their decision to adopt the child who had already become their only daughter.

    Against a background of war, terrorism, disease, and unbearable uncertainty about the future, Chipo’s story emerges as an inspiring testament to the miracles that love—and dogged determination—can sometimes achieve. Gripping, heartbreaking, and triumphant, this family memoir will resonate throughout the ages.

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Also by Neely Tucker

    Only the Hunted Run
    Murder, D.C.
    The Ways of the Dead
    See all books by Neely Tucker

    Also by Neely Tucker

    Only the Hunted Run
    Murder, D.C.
    The Ways of the Dead
    See all books by Neely Tucker

    Also by Neely Tucker

    Only the Hunted Run
    Murder, D.C.
    The Ways of the Dead
    See all books by Neely Tucker

    Also by Neely Tucker

    Only the Hunted Run
    Murder, D.C.
    The Ways of the Dead
    See all books by Neely Tucker

    About Neely Tucker

    Neely Tucker is the author of the Sully Carter novels The Ways of the Dead; Murder, D.C.; and Only the Hunted Run. He has also written the memoir Love in the Driest Season, which was named one of the Best 25 Books of the Year by Publishers… More about Neely Tucker

    About Neely Tucker

    Neely Tucker is the author of the Sully Carter novels The Ways of the Dead; Murder, D.C.; and Only the Hunted Run. He has also written the memoir Love in the Driest Season, which was named one of the Best 25 Books of the Year by Publishers… More about Neely Tucker

    About Neely Tucker

    Neely Tucker is the author of the Sully Carter novels The Ways of the Dead; Murder, D.C.; and Only the Hunted Run. He has also written the memoir Love in the Driest Season, which was named one of the Best 25 Books of the Year by Publishers… More about Neely Tucker

    About Neely Tucker

    Neely Tucker is the author of the Sully Carter novels The Ways of the Dead; Murder, D.C.; and Only the Hunted Run. He has also written the memoir Love in the Driest Season, which was named one of the Best 25 Books of the Year by Publishers… More about Neely Tucker

    Product Details

    Category: Biography & Memoir | Parenting | Travel: Africa

    Paperback | $18.00
    Published by Crown
    Apr 05, 2005 | 288 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9781400081608

    Category: Biography & Memoir | Parenting | Travel: Africa

    Ebook | $4.99
    Published by Crown
    Feb 17, 2004 | 256 Pages | ISBN 9781400080809

    Category: Biography & Memoir | Parenting | Travel: Africa | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $12.95
    Published by Random House Audio
    Feb 17, 2004 | 330 Minutes | ISBN 9780739310724

    Category: Biography & Memoir | Parenting | Travel: Africa | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $17.95
    Published by Random House Audio
    Dec 09, 2003 | 476 Minutes | ISBN 9781415902370

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Praise

    “A triumph of heart and will.” —O, the Oprah Magazine

    “An extraordinary book of immense feeling and significant social relevance. Love in the Driest Season challenges anyone—even those numbed by the world’s abundant cruelty—not to care.” —Washington Post

    “Unceasingly compelling and filled with soaring highs and lows, Love in the Driest Season is a remarkable memoir of love and family.” —Pages

    “A gorgeous mix of family memoir and reportage that traverses the big issues of politics, racism, and war.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    “Utterly heartfelt and truly inspiring.” —Booklist (starred review)

    “Tucker’s hard-hitting memoir . . . is an almost unbelievable tale of bureaucracy, lunacy, and love. The suspense is stomach-wrenching and infuriating.” —Orlando Sentinel

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read

    Today's Top Books

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?

         An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook