Thrilling read reveals as yet unknown details of the political events surrounding Robert Mugabe’s fall

'Two Weeks in November' is a real-world life or death chess match for the future of a country where the political endgame is never a forgone conclusion

31 May 2019 - 13:43 By jonathan ball publishers
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'Two Weeks in November' is a dramatic retelling of the coup that wasn’t a coup, full of narrow escapes, brinkmanship and unlikely bedfellows.
'Two Weeks in November' is a dramatic retelling of the coup that wasn’t a coup, full of narrow escapes, brinkmanship and unlikely bedfellows.
Image: Jonathan Ball Publishers

Two Weeks in November is the thrilling, surreal, unbelievable and often very funny true story of four would-be enemies – a high-ranking politician, an exiled human rights lawyer, a dangerous spy and a low-key white businessman turned political fixer – who team up to help unseat one of the world's longest serving dictators, Robert Mugabe.

What begins as an improbable adventure destined for failure, marked by a mixture of bravery, strategic cunning and bumbling naiveté, soon turns into the most sophisticated political-military operation in African history.

By virtue of their being together, the unlikely team of misfit rivals is suddenly in position to spin what might have been seen as an illegal coup into a mass popular uprising that the world – and millions of Zimbabweans – will enthusiastically support.

Impeccably researched, deftly written, and told in the style of a political thriller, Two Weeks in November is Ocean’s 11 meets Game of Thrones: a real-world life or death chess match for the future of a country where the political endgame is never a forgone conclusion.

DOUGLAS ROGERS is a Zimbabwe-born journalist and travel writer based in the United States. His book, The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe, was published to critical acclaim and went on to be a bestseller in South Africa.

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